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POPULAR  LECTURES 


ON 


THEOLOGICAL  THEMES 


BY  THE 

to.  ARCHIBALD  ALEXANDER  HODGE,  D.D.,LL.D., 

Professor  op  Didactic  and  Polemic  Theology  in  Princeton 
Theological  Seminary. 


PHILADELPHIA : 
PRESBYTERIAN   BOARD  OF   PUBLICATION, 

1334  CHESTNUT  STREET. 


COPYRIGHT,   1887,   BY 

THE  TRUSTEES  OF  THE 

PRESBYTERIAN  BOARD  OF  PUBLICATION. 


All  Rights  Reserved. 


Westcott  A  Thomson, 
Stereotype™  and  Elcctrotypers,  Philada. 


PKEFACE. 


The  Lectures  which  compose  this  volume  originated 
in  the  request  of  a  number  of  ladies  in  Princeton  to  be 
formed  into  a  class  for  instruction  in  theological  subjects. 
This  class  was  continued  for  two  winters,  the  method 
adopted  being  entirely  oral. 

In  the  fall  of  1885  a  few  ladies  in  Philadelphia  pro- 
posed that  the  Lectures  should  be  repeated  to  a  similar 
class  in  that  city.  Large  audiences  of  both  men  and 
women  were  attracted  to  hear  them,  and  the  reports  pub- 
lished in  the  Presbyterian  and  the  Presbyterian  Journal 
awakened  a  desire  for  their  repetition  elsewhere. 

The  reports  published  in  The  Presbyterian  were  for 
the  most  part  from  manuscript  furnished  by  the  author, 
which  in  some  instances  was  prepared  after  the  deliv- 
ery of  the  Lectures ;  and  the  courtesy  of  The  Presby- 
terian in  permitting  the  author  to  use  these,  with  revis- 
ion and  amendments,  is  gratefully  acknowledged. 

In  1886  it  was  proposed  that  a  shorter  course  be  pre- 
pared to  complete  the  presentation  of  subjects,  and  that 
the  whole  should  be  issued  in  a  volume. 


4  PREFACE. 

Seven  additional  Lectures  were  prepared  for  this  pur- 
pose, and,  with  the  exception  of  the  close  of  Lecture 
XVII.,  were  fully  written  during  the  summer,  but 
were  never  passed  in  review  by  the  writer. 

In  this  way  it  appears  that  Lectures  I.,  II.,  III.,  IV., 
V.,  VI.,  X.,  XV.,  XVIII.,  XIX.  were  revised  or 
rewritten  after  delivery ;  Lectures  VIII.,  IX.  are 
printed  from  the  newspaper  reports,  which  were  not  so 
revised ;  while  Lectures  VIL,  XL,  XII.,  XIIL,  XIV., 
XVI.,  XVII.  are  printed  from  the  author's  MSS. 
without  revision.  If  all  had  passed  under  his  eye  while 
going  through  the  press,  he  would  doubtless  have  care- 
fully corrected  them,  and  balanced  the  treatment  so 
as  to  secure  uniformity  in  the  relation  of  parts.  No 
changes  have  been  attempted  which  were  not  obviously 
necessary. 

Many  thanks  are  due  to  the  author's  friend,  the  Rev. 
S.  T.  Lowrie,  D.  D.,  for  much  labor  kindly  bestowed  in 
preparing  the  copy  for  the  press,  as  well  as  iu  the  prepa- 
ration of  the  Index. 

In  the  hope  that  their  posthumous  publication  may 
serve  to  promote  the  truth  to  which  the  author's  life 
was  devoted,  and  so  further  the  end  of  their  original 
delivery,  the  Lectures  are  offered  to  the  public. 

Princeton,  March,  1887. 


CONTENTS. 


LECTURE  I. 

PAGE 

God — His  Nature  and  Relations  to  the  Universe  .       9 


LECTURE  II. 
The  Scripture  Doctrine  of  Divine  Providence  .   .     33 

LECTURE  III. 
Miracles 52 

LECTURE  IV. 
The  Holy  Scriptures. — The  Canon  and  Inspiration.    68 

LECTURE  V. 
Prayer  and  the  Prayer-Cure 94 

LECTURE  VI. 
The  Trinity  of  Persons  in  the  Godhead 117 

LECTURE  VII. 
Predestination 140 

5 


s 


6  CONTENTS. 

LECTUEE  VIII.- 

PAGE 

The  Original  State  of  Man 164 

LECTURE  IX. 

God's  Covenants  with  Man. — The  Church    ....    191 

LECTURE  X. 
The  Person  of  Christ 215 

LECTURE  XI. 
The  Offices  of  Christ 234 

LECTURE  XII 
The  Kingly  Office  of  Christ 259 

LECTURE  XIII. 
The  Kingdom  of  Christ 288 

LECTURE  XIV. 
The  Law  of  the  Kingdom 313 

LECTURE  XV. 

Sanctifi cation  and  Good  Works. — Higher  Life  .   .    335 

LECTURE  XVI. 
The  Sacraments — Baptism 361 

LECTURE  XVII. 
The  Lord's  Supper 390 


CONTEXTS.  7 

LECTURE   XVIII. 

PAGE 

The  State  of  Man  after  Death,  and  the  Resurrec- 
tion     418 

LECTURE   XIX. 
y  Final  Rewards  and  Punishments 439 


POPULAR  LECTURES 

ON 

THEOLOGICAL   THEMES 


LECTURE   I. 

GOD— HIS  NATURE  AND   RELATION  TO    THE 
UNIVERSE. 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen  :  We  have  met  together 
this  afternoon  to  engage  in  the  first  of  a  proposed  series 
of  discussions  of  the  chief  questions  in  theology.  It  is 
not  my  purpose  to  attempt  to  present  you  with  new 
truth,  or  even  with  unaccustomed  views  of  truth  long 
known,  but  simply  to  set  before  you  in  logical  perspect- 
ive the  whole  assemblage  of  the  things  that  from  the 
beginning  have  been  most  surely  believed  among  us,  so 
that  their  symmetrical  proportions  and  harmonious  rela- 
tions may  be  more  clearly  discerned  and  appreciated. 

In  this  view  of  the  matter  the  most  important  ques- 
tion is  that  of  order.  The  perspective  of  every  land- 
scape differs  endlessly  with  the  various  points  of  view 
from  which  we  look  upon  it.  As  you  sweep  rapidly  on 
a  railroad  among  the  Alps,  the  vast  mountain-peaks  ap- 
parently revolve  through  involved  curves  and  group 
themselves  in  innumerable  combinations  as  in  a  dance, 
the  law  of  which  we  are  unable  to  unravel.     But  when 


10  GOD— HIS  NATURE 

we  once  gain  the  central  summit  in  which  the  whole 
geological  system  culminates,  we  look  down  upon  all 
the  members  of  the  landscape,  each  in  its  appropriate 
place  and  relations,  and  the  picture  is  complete.  As 
long  as  men  were  confined  in  their  imaginations  as  well 
as  in  their  bodies  to  this  small  and  ceaselessly  revolving 
sphere  the  movements  of  our  fellow-planets,  moving 
with  us,  were  absolutely  incomprehensible.  But  the 
instant  Copernicus  taught  us  to  occupy  in  idea  the  solar- 
centric  point  of  view  all  was  seen  to  be  the  simplest  and 
most  orderly  movement  possible. 

All  theology  must  therefore  be  theo-centrie,  must  have 
God  for  its  beginning  and  end.  There  is  a  great  deal  of 
confusion  of  thought  arising  from  substituting  words  for 
thoughts  in  the  pious  claim  in  vogue  now-a-days  that 
all  theology  must  be  grouped  Christo-centrically.  There 
is  an  immense  sense  in  which  every  loyal  Christian  will 
recognize  this  as  true.  In  the  first  place,  the  revelation 
of  God  in  Christ  is  so  infinitely  more  clear  and  full  than 
in  all  the  universe  besides  that  we  may  well  say  not  only 
that  Christ  is  God,  but  also  that  there  is  no  God  other 
than  the  One  whose  consummate  self-revelation  is  in 
Christ.  In  the  second  place,  Christ  is  undoubtedly  the 
Author  and  Finisher  of  our  faith  and  the  beginning  and 
ending  of  human  salvation.  The  entire  scheme  of  sal- 
vation begins  and  ends  in  his  person  and  work.  And, 
in  the  third  place,  all  power  in  all  worlds  is  put  in 
Christ's  hands,  so  that  all  events  are  controlled  by  his 
will,  all  history  revolves  around  his  person  and  all 
science  finds  its  key  in  his  doctrine.  Notwithstanding 
all  this,  however,  Christ  is  central  because  Christ  is 
God.     The  unincarnate  God  and  his  natural  relations 


AND  RELATION  TO   THE   UNIVERSE.  11 

to  the  universe  must  be  logically  prior  to  and  more 
fundamental  than  the  incarnate  God  and  his  gracious 
relations  to  his  creatures.  The  apostle  Paul  has  a  deep 
meaning  when  he  says  (1  Cor.  11:3):  "  The  head  of 
every  man  is  Christ,  .  .  .  and  the  head  of  Christ  is 
God ;"  which  is  equivalent  to  saying,  "  The  centre  of 
every  man  is  Christ,  and  the  centre  of  Christ  is  God." 
Three  questions  therefore  obviously  lie  at  the  founda- 
tion not  only  of  all  man's  religious  knowledge,  but  equally 
at  the  foundation  of  every  possible  form  of  knowledge  : 

(1)  Is  there  a  God? 

(2)  What  is  God? 

(3)  What  is  God's  relation  to  the  universe? 

And  if  he  does  sustain  a  relation  to  thex  universe 
which  is  in  any  degree  intelligible  to  us,  a  fourth  ques- 
tion emerges : 

(4)  What  is  the  sphere,  nature  and  extent  of  his  provi- 
dential action  upon  or  in  reference  to  his  creatures  ? 

The  answer  to  the  first  question,  as  to  the  fact  of  God's 
existence,  we  propose  in  these  lectures  to  assume  as  granted. 
The  most  certain  of  all  truths  is  the  existence  of  God. 

I.  The  second  question,  therefore,  presents  itself: 
What  do  we  know  as  to  the  essential  nature 
of  God? 

God  reveals  himself  to  us  through  the  simultaneously 
concurrent  action  of  two  sources  of  knowledge,  neither 
of  which  could  give  us  the  information  separately.  We 
are,  each  one,  immediately  conscious  that  we  are  intelli- 
gent, moral,  voluntary  agents  and  true  causes.  This, 
and  all  that  this  involves,  comes  to  us  by  consciousness 
It  is  the  most  immediate  and  certain  of  all  knowledge, 
and  that  upon  which  all  other  knowledge  rests ;  and  we 


12  GOD— HIS  NATURE 

give  definite  expression  to  this  self-knowledge  when  we 
call  ourselves  spirits  and  persons.  It  is  precisely  this, 
and  nothing  else,  that  we  mean  by  the  words  "spirit" 
and  "  person."  When  we  come  to  look  upon  the  course 
of  external  nature,  to  reflect  upon  our  own  origin  and 
history  internal  and  external,  and  upon  the  history  of 
the  human  race  and  the  life  of  the  general  community 
of  which  we  form  a  part,  we  immediately  and  indubi- 
tably discern  everywhere  the  presence  and  control  of  a 
Being  like  ourselves  in  kind.  In  that  intelligible  order 
which  pervades  the  infinite  multiplicity  and  heterogeneity 
of  events,  and,  which  makes  science  possible,  we  see  and 
certainly  know  the  presence  of  intelligence,  of  personal 
will,  of  moral  character — i.  e.  of  all  that  is  connoted  by 
our  common  term  "  personal  spirit."  God  is  seen  to  be 
of  common  generic  character  with  ourselves.  The  great 
difference  we  see  is  that  while  we  are  essentially  limited 
in  respect  to  time  or  space  or  knowledge  or  power,  God, 
the  personal  agent  we  see  at  work  in  nature  and  history, 
is  essentially  unlimited  in  all  these  respects.  The  only 
reason  that  so  many  students  of  natural  science  have 
found  themselves  unable  to  see  God  in  nature  is  that 
their  absorption  in  nature  has  made  them  lose  sight  of 
their  own  essential  personality.  Hence  they  have  at- 
tempted to  interpret  the  phenomena  of  self-consciousness 
in  the  terms  of  mechanical  nature,  instead  of  interpreting 
nature  under  the  light  of  self-conscious  spirit.  But  the 
scientist,  after  all,  comes  before  his  science,  the  reader 
before  the  book  he  deciphers.  And  the  intelligibility  of 
nature  proves  its  intelligent  source,  and  the  essential  like- 
ness of  the  Author  of  nature,  who  reveals  himself  in  his 
work,  and  of  the  interpreter  of  nature,  who  retraces  his 


AND  RELATION  TO   THE   UNIVERSE.  13 

processes  and  appreciates  alike  the  intellectual  and  the 
artistic  character  of  his  design. 

Since  God  is  infinite,  of  course  a  definition  of  him  is 
impossible.  Obviously,  no  bounds  can  be  drawn  around 
the  boundless.  God  can  be  known  only  so  far  forth  as 
he  has  chosen  to  reveal  himself.  And  being  essentially 
infinite,  every  side  and  element  of  his  nature  is  infinite, 
and  every  glimpse  we  have  of  his  being  involves  the  out- 
lying immensity  or  the  transcendent  perfection  which 
cannot  be  known.  But  since  we  have  been  created  in 
his  likeness,  and  since  we  discern  him  in  all  his  works 
as,  like  ourselves,  an  intelligent  and  moral  personal 
spirit,  we  can  define  our  idea  of  him  by  stating  (1)  the 
genus  or  kind  to  which  he  is  known  to  belong,  and  (2) 
the  differentia,  or  differences,  which  distinguish  him  from 
all  other  beings  of  that  kind.  The  best  definition  of  the 
idea  of  God  ever  given  is  constructed  on  this  principle. 
First,  as  to  his  kind  :  God  is  a  personal  Spirit ;  second, 
as  to  his  difference  from  all  other  spirits :  God  is  infinite, 
eternal,  unchangeable,  and  in  all  his  moral  attributes 
absolutely  perfect,  and  he  is  infinite,  eternal  and  un- 
changeable alike  in  his  being,  in  his  wisdom,  in  his 
power,  etc.  etc. 

First,  as  to  his  kind.  God  is  a  personal  Spirit.  We 
mean  by  this  precisely  what  we  mean  when  we  affirm 
that  we  ourselves  are  personal  spirits.  This  conception 
comes  wholly  from  consciousness,  and  it  is  absolutely 
certain.  We  see  and  know  God,  as  manifested  in  his 
activities  alike  in  the  whole  world  within  us  and  around 
us  as  far  as  the  remotest  star,  to  be  another  of  the  same 
kind  with  ourselves.  We  know  ourselves  to  be  intelli- 
gent causes.     We  see  him  likewise  to  be  an  intelligent 


14  GOD— HIS  NATURE 

Cause,  and  the  original,  the  absolute,  aud  the  perfect 
One. 

In  applying  this  law  in  constructing  our  idea  of  God 
we  proceed  according  to  three  principles  of  judgment: 

(1)  That  of  causality.  We  judge  the  nature  of  every 
cause  from  what  we  see  of  its  effects;  we  judge  the 
character  of  every  author  from  what  we  read  of  his 
works.  So  the  manifold  works  of  God,  past  and  present, 
physical  and  spiritual,  reveal  his  nature  as  First  Cause. 

(2)  That  of  negation.  We  deuy  of  him  all  those  attri- 
butes and  conditions  the  possession  of  which  involves 
imperfection — e.  g.  materiality,  bodily  parts  or  passions, 
the  limitations  of  time  or  space.  (3)  That  of  eminence. 
We  attribute  to  him  all  that  is  found  to  be  excellent 
in  ourselves,  in  absolute  perfection  and  in  unlimited 
degree. 

Second.  This  leads,  necessarily,  to  the  discrimination, 
in  the  second  place,  of  those  properties  which  distinguish 
God  from  all  other  personal  spirits. 

1.  We  know  ourselves  as  causes;  we  can  really  orig- 
inate new  things.  But  we  are  dependent  and  limited 
causes.  We  did  not  originate,  and  we  cannot  sustain, 
ourselves.  We  can  put  forth  our  causal  energy  only 
under  certain  conditions,  and  we  can  bring  to  pass  only 
a  very  limited  class  of  effects.  But  God  as  a  cause  is 
absolutely  independent  and  unlimited.  He  is  the  un- 
caused First  Cause  of  all  things.  He  is  an  eternal 
and  necessary  Being  who  has  his  own  cause  in  himself. 
He  is  not  only  the  first  link  in  the  chain  of  causation, 
but  he  is  the  everywhere  present  sustaining  and  actuat- 
ing basis  of  all  dependent  existence  and  the  originating 
con-cause  in  all  causation,  because  we  and  all  other  de- 


AND  RELATION  TO   THE   UNIVERSE.  15 

pendent  causes  act  only  as  we  live  and  move  and  have  all 
our  being  in  him. 

2.  We  know  ourselves  always  and  necessarily  as 
existing;,  thinking  and  acting  under  the  limitations  of 
time  and  space;  we  can  think  or  act  only  under  these 
limitations.  But  God  necessarily  transcends  all  these 
limitations,  and  condescends  to  them  only  on  occasion, 
at  his  own  pleasure,  in  the  way  of  self-limitation. 

We  began  to  be  at  a  definite  period  in  the  past.  We 
continue  to  exist  and  to  think  and  to  act  through  a 
ceaseless  succession  of  moments,  the  present  moment 
ever  emerging  out  of  the  past  and  immerging  into  the 
future.  But  God  is  without  beginning  or  succession  or 
end.  All  duration,  past,  present  and  future,  is  always 
equally  comprehended  in  his   infinite  consciousness  as 

the   ETERNAL,   NOW. 

We  are  m  space  definitely,  and  are  surrounded  by  it, 
and  pass  from  one  position  to  another  through  all  the 
intermediate  portions  of  space  in  succession.  But  God 
fills  all  space :  not  by  extension,  like  the  water  of  the 
sea  or  as  the  atmosphere ;  not  by  multiplication,  nor  by 
rapid  movement,  like  an  ubiquitous  general  along  the  line 
of  his  army ;  not  as  represented  by  his  agents,  as  the 
head  of  an  army  or  state  may  be  said  to  be  and  to  act 
wherever  his  agents  carry  out  his  orders  ;  not  by  his 
knowledge  or  his  power  merely,  as  when  an  astrono- 
mer may  be  said  to  be  in  thought  wherever  his  telescope 
points,  or  a  great  sovereign  to  reign  wherever  his  laws 
are  obeyed.  But  by  reason  of  his  own  infinite  perfec- 
tion, Father,  Son  and  Holy  Ghost  are  in  their  whole 
undivided  being  present  at  every  point  of  space  at  every 
moment  of  time.    The  whole  God  is  always  everywhere : 


16  GOD— HIS  NATURE 

within  all  things,  acting  from  within  outward  from  the 
centre  of  every  atom,  and  from  the  innermost  springs  of 
the  life  and  thought  and  feeling  and  will  of  every  spirit ; 
without  all  things,  embracing  them  as  an  infinite  abyss, 
and  acting  upon  them  in  a  thousand  ways  from  without. 
3.  We  know  ourselves  as  possessing  the  spoiled  and 
defaced  lineaments  of  a  moral  character,  the  main  ele- 
ments of  which  are  truth,  purity,  justice,  benevolence. 
We  know  that  God,  who  has  revealed  his  character  in 
the  external  physical  world,  in  human  history  and  in 
the  person  of  his  Son  Jesus  Christ,  is  the  absolutely 
perfect  norm  of  our  moral  idea.  Our  morality  is  re- 
flected, his  is  original  and  radiant.  Ours  is  defective, 
his  is  absolute.  It  has  become  the  weak  and  conceited 
mode  of  those  who  pose  as  the  advanced  thinkers  of 
this  luxurious  age,  to  emphasize  the  benevolence  of 
God  at  the  expense  of  his  immaculate  holiness  and  jus- 
tice. They  teach  us  that  the  cultured  mind  finds  the 
old  doctrines  of  blood-expiation  and  of  eternal  perdi- 
tion utterly  inconsistent  with  its  better  idea  of  God. 
They  think  the  great  God  "  altogether  such  an  one  as 
themselves."  The  ground  of  this  widely-advertised 
opinion  is  purely  subjective — the  Christian  conscious- 
ness of  the  cultured  6lite  in  contradistinction  to  the  his- 
toric Christian  consciousness  of  the  ages.  The  facts  are 
all  on  the  other  side.  The  terrible  record  of  him  in  his- 
tory, blazed  all  along  its  line  with  the  fires  of  judgment 
kindled  by  a  sin-hating  God,  the  death-throes  of  indi- 
viduals and  of  nations,  the  answering  cry  of  the  human 
conscience  uttered  in  the  ceaseless  rites  of  blood  on  altars 
and  penitential  stools,  the  entire  voice  of  revelation,  from 
the  cherubim  with  the  fiery  sword  driving  out  the  home- 


AND  RELATION  TO   THE   UNIVERSE.  17 

less,  helpless. first  pair  from  Eden,  the  frowning  thunders 
and  blasting  lightnings  of  Sinai,  the  history  of  Canaan 
exterminated  and  of  Israel  chastised,  the  awful  horrors 
of  Gethsemane  and  Calvary,  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem 
and  the  dispersion  and  bondage  of  the  Jews,  to  the  final 
issue  of  the  lake  of  fire  set  as  the  background  of  the  pict- 
ure of  the  Paradise  regained,  the  eternal  wailing  and  the 
smoke  of  torment  ascending  for  ever  and  ever, — all  these 
facts  stand  as  the  unquestionable  evidence  of  the  exist- 
ence of  other  perfections  in  God  besides  benevolence. 

II.  The  third  question  remains :  What  relation 
does  God  sustain  to  the  universe  he  has  called 
into  being  ? 

It  is  very  evident  that  since  we  are  able  to  compre- 
hend neither  God's  essential  being,  nor  his  mode  of  ex- 
istence superior  to  the  limits  of  either  time  or  space,  nor 
the  nature  of  his  agency  in  creating,  upholding  in  being 
or  in  governing  his  creatures,  we  cannot  by  any  central 
principle  or  a-priori  mode  of  reasoning  think  out  a  per- 
fect theory  of  his  relation  to  the  universe.  We  can  only 
state  severally  the  separate  facts  as  we  know  them,  leav- 
ing their  complete  elucidation  and  reconciliation  to  the 
future.  And  we  are  both  assisted  and  confirmed  in  our 
efforts  to  present  all  the  facts  comprehended,  by  the  cir- 
cumstance that  different  heretical  schools  of  thought 
emphasize  one  or  another  of  these  facts,  while  they  deny 
or  suppress  the  rest.  Here  we  have  a  new  and  striking 
illustration  of  the  universal  principle  that  all  heretical 
dogmas  are  partial  truths — true  in  what  they  assert, 
false  in  what  they  deny  or  ignore.  Orthodoxy  is  always 
catholic  truth,  embracing  and  integrating  all  the  possibly 
separate  and  apparently  incongruous  parts  and  aspects 
2 


18  GOD— BIS  NATURE 

of  the  truth.  Thus  in  the  present  instance  we  have  the 
Agnostics,  who  maintain  that  the  Infinite  is  the  Un- 
knowable; the  Deists,  who  set  God  apart  from  the 
world,  separate  upon  his  throne  in  heaven ;  and  those 
who  maintain  exclusively  the  fact  that  God  is  immanent, 
or  uniformly  and  universally  present  in  all  things,  while 
they  deny  or  ignore  his  equal  transcendence  above  and 
over  all  things.  True  Christian  Theism  maintains  all 
these  partial  truths  as  equally  parts  of  the  one  truth. 
God  is  at  once  the  unfathomable  Abyss,  the  transcend- 
ent Father,  King  and  Judge,  the  immanent  and  vital 
Spirit. 

First.  God  is  unknowable,  the  infinite  Abyss  of  dark- 
ness in  which  the  universe  floats  as  an  atom.  Herbert 
Spencer's  philosophy  emphasizes  the  truth  that  the  more 
science  advances,  the  more  must  the  questions  as  to  origin, 
first  cause,  ultimate  force  and  end,  be  pushed  back  into 
darkness.  If  you  light  a  spark  in  a  starless  night,  it 
will  fill  a  small  sphere  of  illuminated  space  extend- 
ing equidistant  in  all  directions.  If  the  spark  be- 
comes a  candle,  if  the  candle  becomes  a  flame  of 
gas,  if  the  gas-flame  becomes  an  electric  arc,  if  the 
electric  arc  becomes  a  sun, — in  every  case  the  sphere 
of  light  will  grow  as  the  cube  of  its  radius;  and  as  the 
sphere  of  light  becomes  larger  and  larger,  in  exact  pro- 
portion will  it  be  enfolded  within  an  ever-growing  sphere 
of  darkness.  In  this  sense  the  more  we  meditate  upon 
him,  God  is  ever  beyond.  In  this  sense,  while  the  sphere 
of  human  knowledge  is  ever  increasing,  and  will  through 
eternity  never  cease  to  increase,  God  is  always  unknow- 
able. And  the  sphere  of  a  creature's  knowledge,  be  it 
that  of  an  infant  or  of  a  man  or  of  a  philosopher  or  of 


AND  RELATION  TO  THE   UNIVERSE.  19 

a  prophet  or  of  saint  or  archangel  in  heaven,  will  float 
as  a  point  of  light  athwart  the  bosom  of  that  God  who 
is  the  infinite  Abyss  for  ever. 

This  tremendous  fact  conditions  all  human  knowledge 
in  every  stage  of  it.     We  can  know  anything  only  im- 
perfectly, whether  in  science  or  in  theology,  because  we 
know  things  only  in  parts,  and  can  never  comprehend 
the  absolute  whole.     The  botanist  cannot  comprehend  a 
single  flower  except  as  he  takes  in  the  whole  plant,  nor  the 
whole  plant  except  as  he  takes  in  the  whole  species,  nor 
the  whole  species  except  as  he  takes  in  the  whole  genus,  nor 
the  whole  genus  except  as  he  takes  in  the  whole  system 
of  organized  life,  the  entire  fauna  and  flora  and  all  their 
history  on  the  earth.     The  teacher  may  easily  explain 
the  laws  and  movements  of  the  solar  system  to  his  class, 
but  he  knows   them  himself  very  partially,  since  he 
knows  so  little  of  the  realities  or  of  the  history  of  the 
stellar  universe  of  which  the  solar  system  is  so  small  a 
dependency.     All  things  go  out  into  mystery.     All  our 
knowledge  is  conditioned  upon  the  essential  unknowable- 
ness  of  God.    In  all  our  knowing  and  in  all  our  worship, 
the  infinite  God  is  always  beyond. 

This  side  of  the  truth  is  taught  as  clearly  in  the 
oldest  word  of  revelation  as  it  is  in  the  latest  word  of 
science.  "  Canst  thou  by  searching  find  out  God  ?  canst 
thou  find  out  the  Almighty  unto  perfection?  It  is  as 
high  as  heaven ;  what  canst  thou  do  ?  deeper  than  hell  ; 
what  canst  thou  know?  The  measure  thereof  is  larger 
than  the  earth,  and  broader  than  the  sea"  (Job  11  :  7-9). 
Second.  God  is  transcendent ;  that  is,  he  is  a  distinct 
Person,  separate  from  the  world  and  from  all  other  per- 
sons—who speaks  to  us  face  to  face,  who  commands  our 


20 


GOD— HIS  NATURE 


wills  and  regulates  our  lives  from  on  high  ;  who  upon 
occasion,  when  he  wills,  acts  upon  the  universe  or  any 
part  of  it  from  without.     He  is  objective  to  each  one  of 
us  as  a  distinct  Person,  alike  when  he  speaks  to  us  and 
when  we  speak  to  him.     He  created  all  things  out  of 
nothino-       The  universe   is   not  a  modification   ot   his 
essence"  nor  is  it  confused  with  his  substance;   he  is 
essentially  something  other  than  any  one  of  his  crea- 
tures, the  extramundane  God.     The  relation  he  sustains 
to  the  universe,  therefore,  is   analogous  to  that  ot  a 
maker  to  his  work,  of  a  preserver  and  governor  ot  a 
mechanism,  of  a  father  to   his   children,  of  a   moral 
ruler  to  his  intelligent  and  responsible  subjects.  _ 
'    This  view  of  the  nature  of  God  and  of  his  relation  to 
the  world,  and  especially  his  relation  to  created  spirits, 
is  common  to  Deists  and  Christian  Theists      It  is  de- 
nied utterly  by  Pantheists,  and  it  is  ignored  m  whole 
or  in  part  by  the  modern  special  advocates  of  the  im- 
manence of  God  as  containing  all  the  essential  truth 
related  to  our  interests  in  the  matter.     Yet  this  view 
iust  presented  of  God's  separate  personality  and  agency 
and   objectivity  to   man   and  transcendence  above  the 
world  is  true  and  infinitely  important,  although  we  con- 
cede that  it  is  not  the  whole  truth  known  to  us  on  the 
subiect.     The  view  of  God  as  extramundane  is  essen- 
tially the  moral  view  of  his  relation  to  the  world ;  that 
which  recognizes  his  immanence  is  pre-eminently  the 
religious  view.     If  he  be  not  extramundane,  if  he  be 
not  a  separate  transcendent  person  revealing  himself 
objectively,  commanding  from  above  and  working  upon 
his  creatures  from  without,  it  follows  that  he  cannot  sus- 
tain either  social  or  governmental  relations  to  us.    He 


AND  RELATION  TO  THE  UNIVERSE.  21 

eannot  be  truly  our  Father,  or  our  Lawgiver,  or  our 
moral  Governor,  or  our  Judge  distributing  rewards  aud 
punishments ;  he  cannot  come  down  at  his  will  from 
without  and  work  miracles  of  grace  or  power  as  signs 
and  seals  to  his  intelligent  creatures. 

This  is  the  prominent  view  embraced  by  the  mass 
of  the  worshipers  in  all  theistic  religions,  Jews,  Chris- 
tians and  Mohammedans  alike,  among  all  historic  bodies 
of  Christians,  Greeks,  Romanists  and  all  classes  of  Prot- 
estants. It  is  realized  in  the  consciousness  of  every  re- 
pentant sinner  and  of  every  believing  Christian.  It  is 
implied  in  all  faith  and  obedience,  in  all  prayer  and 
praise,  and  hence  in  all  the  psalms,  hymns  and  prayers 
of  the  Church.  It  is  taught  equally  in  all  Scriptures, 
the  New  Testament  as  well  as  the  Old,  which  show 
forth  Jehovah  as  sitting  upon  his  throne  in  heaven,  and 
as  sending  his  messengers  and  as  transmitting  his  ener- 
gies and  his  judgments  from  heaven  to  earth,  and  as 
marshaling  the  hosts  of  heaven  and  the  nations  of  the 
earth  from  afar.  Above  all,  is  this  truth  made  patent 
as  the  sky,  a  matter  of  daily  personal  experience,  in  the 
personal  incarnation  of  God  in  Christ.  Christ  is  God. 
Christ  is  the  same  to-day  and  for  ever  as  he  was  when 
he  lived  on  earth.  God  is  therefore  a  Person  who  is 
outside  of  and  distinct  from  the  world  and  all  other  per- 
sons ;  who  speaks  to  us  and  we  speak  to  him ;  who  hears 
us  and  we  hear  him ;  who  commands,  leads  and  guides 
us  from  without  as  another ;  and  in  whose  personal  soci- 
ety and  under  whose  blessed  reign  we  shall  be  transcend- 
ently  happy  for  ever. 

Third.  God  is  immanent.  He  is  everywhere  present 
in  every  point  of  space  and  within  the  inmost  constitu- 


22  GOD— HIS  NATURE 

tion  of  all  created  things  at  the  same  time.  God's  activ- 
ity springs  up  from  the  central  seat  of  energy  in  all  sec- 
ond causes,  and  acts  from  within  through  them  as  well 
as  from  without  upon  them.  He  reveals  himself  in  us 
and  to  us  through  our  own  subjectivity,  as  well  as  ob- 
jectively through  the  things  presented  to  our  senses. 
He  is  the  universal  present  and  active  basis  of  all  being 
and  action,  the  First  Cause  ever  living  and  acting  in  all 
second  causes. 

This  is  evident,  1st,  from  the  essential  nature  of  God 
as  omnipresent  and  as  First  Cause,  the  foundation  of  all 
dependent  existence  and  the  ultimate  source  of  all  ener- 
gy. 2d.  This  is  evident  from  what  we  see  very  plainly 
in  the  entire  sphere  and  history  of  the  physical  universe. 
The  impression  made  by  the  most  transient  observation 
is  abundantly  confirmed  by  science,  that  the  continuity 
of  physical  causation  through  all  worlds,  through  every 
sphere  of  mechanical,  chemical  and  vital  action,  and 
through  all  the  succeeding  ages,  is  absolutely  unbroken. 
There  are  no  broken  links,  no  sudden  emergencies  of  dis- 
connected events,  but  a  continuous  sequence  of  cause  and 
effect  everywhere. 

The  deistical  conception  of  God's  relation  to  the  uni- 
verse is  analogous  to  that  of  a  human  mechanist  to  the 
machinery  he  has  made  and  operates.  He  sits  outside 
his  engine,  feeds  its  forces,  adjusts  its  parts,  controls  its 
action,  and  thus  directs  its  energies  upon  the  accomplish- 
ment of  its  appointed  ends. 

The  conception  of  God  and  of  his  action  as  immanent 
in  the  universe,  acting  from  within  through  the  sponta- 
neities of  the  things  he  has  made,  rather  than  upon  them 
from  without,  is  analogous  rather  to  the  action  of  the  vital 


AND  RELATION  TO   THE   UNIVERSE.  23 

principle  of  a  plant,  which  as  a  plastic  architectonic  en- 
ergy is  ever  present  within  the  germ  from  its  first  for- 
mation, and  continues  to  control  all  the  natural  physical 
forces  engaged  in  the  upbuilding  of  the  organism  through 
all  its  organs  during  its  entire  life.  The  works  of  man 
are  built-up  by  the  adding  of  part  to  part  by  external 
forces.  The  works  of  God  grow  continuously  through 
the  evolution  of  germs  from  within,  by  internal  forces. 
Thus,  in  spite  of  the  infinite  number  and  diversity  of  the 
forces  interacting  in  all  the  physical  universe,  and  of  all 
the  wills  interacting  in  human  society,  the  history  alike 
of  the  physical  universe  and  of  human  society  presents 
the  absolutely  continuous  unfolding  of  a  single  plan. 

The  same  great  truth  is  illustrated  in  our  religious 
experience.  A  divine  power  not  ourselves,  working  for 
righteousness,  enters  us  on  the  side  of  our  own  subjec- 
tivity, and  is  confluent  always  with  our  most  spontane- 
ous and  least  deliberative  exercises.  Thus,  regeneration 
is  an  effect  of  God's  immediate  working  within  the  soul 
below  our  consciousness,  giving  a  new  character  to  all 
our  conscious  states  and  acts.  God  works  within  us  con- 
stantly to  will,  and  by  willing  to  do,  of  his  good  pleasure. 
And  thus  also,  while  each  book  of  Holy  Scripture  was 
written  by  a  human  author  in  the  language  and  style 
peculiar  to  his  age,  his  nation  and  his  personal  character, 
and  in  the  perfectly  free  exercise  of  all  his  faculties,  yet 
all  the  books  are  the  word  of  God.  His  suggestive, 
elevative  and  directive  influence  has  so  worked  in  them 
from  within,  mingling  freely  with  their  own  spontane- 
ities, that  the  writing  is  at  once  both  God's  and  theirs, 
both  supernatural  and  natural,  because  they,  being  men, 
wrote  as  they  were  moved  by  the  immanent  Spirit  of 


24  GOD— HIS  NATURE 

God.  Angels  and  men  influence  one  another  from  with- 
out by  objective  presentations ;  God  influences  all  from 
within  by  subjective  impulses.  Hence  we  realize  the 
complementary  truth  that  we  live  and  move  in  him  and 
have  all  our  being  in  him.  In  some  distant  sense,  as 
the  birds  draw  their  life  and  have  their  being  in  the  air, 
God  is  the  one  essential,  fundamental  environment  and 
life-condition  of  all  creatures. 

The  consequences  of  this  great  fact  of  the  divine  im- 
manence are : 

(1.)  The  whole  universe  exists  in  God.  As  the  stars 
in  the  ether,  as  the  clouds  in  the  air,  the  whole  universe 
floats  on  the  pulsing  bosom  of  God. 

(2.)  All  the  intelligence  manifested  in  the  physical 
universe,  all  that  larger  and  timeless  intelligence  which 
embraces  and  directs  the  limited  and  transient  intelli- 
gence of  the  human  actors  in  the  drama  of  history,  is  of 
God.     In  the  physical  world  we  see  an  infinitude  of 
blind,    unconscious    forces,  apparently   independent  in 
their  nature  and  source,  working  together  harmoniously 
to  build  upon  a  continuous  and  universal  plan  the  most 
intricate  and  harmonious  results,  as  the  great  cathedral 
dedicated  to  St,  Peter  in  Rome  rose  out  of  the  marble 
quarries  of  Italy  through  the  agency  of  multitudes  of 
thoughtless  men  and  beasts  of  labor  working  without 
concert  for  many  years,  yet  conspiring  to  balance  har- 
moniously in  the  air  a  miracle  of  mechanical  construc- 
tion and  of  artistic  beauty.    It  was  because  all  the  agents 
in  that  work,  of  all  kinds  and  during  the  entire  period 
of  its  development,  were  subject  to  the  suggestive,  ele- 
vative  and  directive  inspiration  of  the  great  Michael 
Angelo. 


AND  RELATION  TO   THE   UNIVERSE.  25 

(3.)  Hence,  also,  in  the  third  place,  it  follows  that  all 
the  effect- producing  energy  seen  in  the  physical  universe 
is  ultimately  the  efficiency  of  God.  The  First  Cause 
must  be  the  efficient  cause  of  all  second  causes  and  the 
source  of  all  the  dependent  energy  they  ever  exercise. 
As  the  sun's  rays,  shining  on  the  tropic  seas,  raise  by 
evaporation  the  vast  oceans  of  aerial  vapors  which,  con- 
densed by  our  northern  cold,  precipitate  in  rain  and 
generate  the  immense  forces  of  our  rivers  and  water- 
falls :  as  ultimately  all  the  energies  of  nature  distributed 
from  our  central  suns  hold  the  worlds  together  in  the 
form  of  gravity,  and  are  differentiated  into  the  thousand 
forms  of  vegetable  and  animal  life,  and  into  the  mechan- 
ical movement  of  the  currents  of  winds  and  tides  and  of 
electric  currents  and  of  radiant  light, — so  all  these  issue 
ceaselessly  from  their  ultimate  seat  in  God.  What  the 
sun  is  to  the  solar  system,  what  the  furnace  is  to  the 
steamship,  what  the  great  centre  of  nerve-force  is  to  our 
bodies,  that  God  is  to  his  universe,  and  infinitely  more. 

(4.)  Hence,  lastly,  it  follows  that  everywhere  the 
universe  reveals  God.  The  power  of  the  indwelling 
spirit  to  express  its  changing  modes  through  the  changes 
of  the  body  is  a  great  mystery,  and  nevertheless  is  one 
of  the  most  obvious  and  constant  of  all  facts.  Pallid 
fear,  raging  passion,  calm  contenrplation,  assured  con- 
fidence, radiant  joy,  determined  purpose,  have  each  their 
universally  recognized  signs  of  expression  current  among 
all  nations  of  men  and  animal  tribes.  So  the  construct- 
ive dream  of  the  architect,  the  ideal  of  the  sculptor  and 
painter,  the  high  theme  of  the  musician,  are  all  expressed 
in  the  several  forms  of  their  respective  arts.  The  great 
artists  are  immortal,  since  they  ever  live,  speaking  and 


26  GOD— HIS  NATURE 

singino-  in  their  works.  As  our  souls  animate  and 
manifest  their  presence  and  their  changiug  modes  in 
ever}'  part  of  our  bodies,  and  as  God  is  immanent  and 
active  in  all  his  works,  so  all  nature  and  the  course  of 
universal  history  reflect  his  thoughts.  All  men  always 
recognize  events  of  extraordinary  character  as  expres- 
sions of  the  will  of  God.  Whatever  is  recognized  by  us 
as  providential  expresses  to  us  the  divine  thought.  Even 
Shakespeare  says  that  Providence  "  shapes  our  ends, 
rough-hew  them  as  we  may."  The  Christian  recognizes 
every  event  as  providential.  Every  hair  of  our  head  is 
numbered,  and  not  one  sparrow  falls  to  the  ground  ex- 
cept as  our  Father  wills  it.  He  works  in  us  all  to  will 
and  to  do  his  good  pleasure  in  all  things.  Hence  every 
flower  is  a  thought  of  God.  The  firmament  reflects  his 
immensity,  and  the  order  of  the  stars  his  limitless  intel- 
ligence, and  the  myriad-fold  beauty  of  the  world  unveils 
the  secret  chambers  of  his  imagery.  The  tempest  is  the 
letting  loose  of  his  strength,  and  the  thunder  utters  his 
voice.  To  the  Christian  the  universe  is  not  merely  a 
temple  in  which  God  is  worshiped,  but  it  is  also  the 
ever-venerated  countenance  on  which  the  affections  of 
our  Lord  toward  his  children  are  visibly  expressed. 
Everywhere  we  see  God,  and  everywhere  his  ever-active 
and  fecund  benevolence  toward  us  is  articulated  in  smile 
and  word  and  deed. 

This  view  of  God,  which  we  signalize  by  the  word 
"immanence,"  is  not  a  new  one,  nor  is  it  confined  to 
philosophers  or  to  theologians.  The  plainest  and  most 
practical  Christians  of  all  churches  live  in  the  exercise 
of  this  faith  every  day.  To  the  babes  in  Christ  every 
event  is  providential  and  marks  the  constant  thought 


AND  RELATION  TO  THE  UNIVERSE.  27 

and  care  of  God.  Especially  have  evangelical  Chris- 
tians of  the  school  of  Augustine  and  Calvin  always 
recognized  the  constant  dependence  of  the  creature  and 
the  constant  inwprking  of  the  divine  energy  as  the  con- 
trolling source  of  all  our  spontaneous  affections  and  actions. 
It  is  a  first  principle  in  their  theology  that  the  creature 
can  act  only  as  it  is  first  acted  upon  by  the  First  Cause. 
The  doctrine  ofprevenient  grace,  which  is  the  grand  evan- 
gelical distinction,  implies  this.  God  must  first  move 
the  sinner  to  good  before  the  sinner  can  begin  to  co-oj)- 
erate  with  that  grace  which  ever  continues  to  prompt 
and  assist  him.  Thus  they  argue  for  a  previous,  simul- 
taneous and  determining  concursus —  i.  e.  continuous 
co-working — of  the  ceaseless  activities  of  God  with  the 
activities  of  his  creatures.  They  hold  that  even  the  sin- 
ful actions  of  men  originate  in  God  as  to  their  matter, 
while  as  to  their  form  or  moral  quality  they  originate  in 
the  creature  aloue ;  as  when  a  great  artist  handles  an  in- 
strument out  of  tune  the  sound  that  issues  is  due  to  the 
artist,  but  the  discord  which  deforms  it  issues  only  from 
the  unbalanced  organism  of  the  instrument,  the  unstrung 
cords  or  the  unadjusted  pipes. 

The  claim  made  by  the  advocates  of  the  "  New  Depart- 
ure "  in  theology,  that  this  view  of  God  as  immanent  and 
constantly  active  in  all  his  works  is  new  in  the  thoughts 
of  Christians,  is  absolutely  without  shadow  of  evidence. 
It  has  never  been  denied  or  seriously  ignored,  nor  is  it 
in  the  least  inconsistent  with  the  complementary  view  of 
his  personal  transcendence  and  objective  presentation  and 
working  from  without.  The  Church  has  always  held 
both  sides  together  of  this  double  truth,  as  both  equally 
essential  and  precious. 


28  GOD— HIS  NATURE 

Neither  is  this  view  of  the  divine  immanence  to  be 
confounded  with  Pantheism.  They  both  alike  empha- 
size the  common  truth  that  God  is  within  us ;  that  he  is 
to  be  sought  in  the  sphere  of  the  subjective  as  well  as  of 
the  objective ;  that  he  is  the  immediate  basis  of  all  cre- 
ated existence  and  the  ultimate  source  of  all  the  intelli 
gence  and  energy  manifested  in  the  external  world. 

But  Pantheism  holds  that  the  whole  universe  of  exten- 
sion and  thought  is  one  substance,  and  that  substance  God 
— that  God  exists  only  in  the  successive  forms  or  events 
which  constitute  the  universe.  These  forms  are  various, 
but  God  is  one.  They  are  successive,  but  God  endures 
the  same.  He  is  not  a  person,  but  all  persons  are  tran- 
sient forms  of  his  being.  He  has  no  existence  other 
than  that  of  the  sum  of  all  finite  existence,  and  no 
consciousness  nor  intelligence  other  than  the  aggregate 
of  the  consciousness  and  intelligence  of  the  transient 
creatures. 

Hence  Pantheism  denies  the  freedom  of  man  and  the 
personality  of  God.  It  makes  all  events  proceed  by  a 
law  of  absolute  necessity.  All  evil,  precisely  as  all  good, 
comes  immediately  from  God,  and  evil  men  are  related 
to  him  precisely  as  are  saints  and  angels.  It  confounds 
the  doctrine  of  immanence  with  ontological  identity,  and 
it  turns  it  into  a  heresy  by  denying  the  complementary 
truth  of  the  divine  transcendence.  It  allows  no  place 
for  a  heavenly  Father  beholding  us  complacently  and 
providing  for  us  benevolently.  It  makes  no  place  for  a 
moral  Governor  and  Judge  ruling  over  us,  distributing 
rewards  and  punishments,  teaching,  disciplining  and  act- 
ing upon  us  from  without.  It  makes  no  place  for  a 
supernatural    world,    for    revelations    or    supernatural 


AND  RELATION  TO   THE   UNIVERSE.  29 

truths,  for  miracles  or  supernatural  works,  for  a  "  king- 
dom of  God,"  a  supernatural  state,  or  for  a  future  or 
supernatural  life.  Therefore  Pantheism  in  its  very 
essence  renders  all  morality  and  religion  alike  impos- 
sible. 

The  Christian  doctrine  of  the  divine  immanence,  on 
the  contrary,  is  the  very  essence  of  all  religion.  It  ad- 
mits and  adjusts  itself  to  the  complementary  doctrine  of 
the  divine  transcendence.  We  begin,  as  we  have  shown 
above,  with  the  conception  of  God  as  a  distinct  Person 
of  absolute  intellectual  and  moral  perfection,  self-con- 
scious, self-determinate,  absolutely  free  and  sovereign, 
righteous  and  loving.  This  is  our  heavenly  Father, 
the  God  and  Father  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus 
Christ.  He  created  us  in  his  likeness,  rules  us  as  our 
righteous  moral  Governor  and  Judge,  and  executes 
through  all  the  universe  and  through  all  ages  his  all- 
perfect  and  immutable  plan  conceived  in  the  infinitely 
wise  and  righteous  counsel  of  his  sovereign  will. 

This  Being,  moreover,  transcends  all  the  limitations 
of  sjDace  and  time.  He  is  everywhere  present  in  his 
eternal  essence.  The  whole  essence,  with  all  its  inhe- 
rent properties,  is  present  at  every  moment  of  time  to 
every  point  of  space.  As  First  Cause  he  is  the  constant, 
abiding,  supporting  and  actuating  basis  of  every  second 
cause.  All  creatures  exist,  and  act  only  as  they  exist, 
in  him.  At  the  same  time,  he  acts  through  every  atom 
from  within  and  upon  every  atom  from  without.  "  In 
him  all  things  live  and  move  and  have  their  being ;" 
He  turneth  the  hearts  of  men  even  as  rivers  of  water 
are  turned ;  He  worketh  in  us  to  will  and  to  do  of  his 
own  good  pleasure. 


30  GOD— HIS  NATURE 

This  is  a  function  of  the  divine  personality.  The  fact 
that  the  whole  indivisible  God  is  eternally  in  each  point 
of  space  trauscends  our  understanding,  but  it  does  not 
rationally  necessitate  the  belief  in  many  gods  nor  in  a 
divided  God ;  nor  does  it  in  any  way  invalidate  the 
proof  we  have  establishing  his  personality.  The  Script- 
ures clearly  treat  both  truths  together.  The  practical 
faith  and  experience  of  all  Christians  embrace  both  of 
these  truths  together  in  the  same  acts  of  trust  and  love. 
Both  truths  are  together  implied  in  all  religious  experi- 
ence, recognizing  God  as  our  Father,  speaking  to  him 
and  listening  to  his  voice,  obeying  his  word,  trusting  to 
his  love,  and  at  the  same  time  recognizing  him  as  pres- 
ent everywhere  and  in  all  things  and  events,  recognizing 
his  hand  in  every  object  and  occurrence,  trusting  him  ii1 
everything  because  all  nature  executes  his  will,  and  hence 
reveals  his  presence  and  expresses  his  thought. 

The  extension  of  our  knowledge  of  the  physical  uni- 
verse effected  by  modern  science,  rendering  visible  to  us 
the  absolute  unity  of  the  cosmos,  the  uninterrupted  con- 
tinuity of  the  chain  of  cause  and  effect,  as  wrell  as  of  de- 
sign, through  all  space  and  time,  has  not  altered,  but  it 
has  greatly  emphasized,  this  religious  conception  of  "the 
divine  immanence."  An  eminent  Christian  scientist  said 
to  me  recently,  "  God  is  either  in  all  or  in  none."  It  is 
not  possible  to  believe,  when  looking  upon  the  course  of 
natural  creation  and  providence,  that  God  comes  down 
upon  them  at  disconnected  intervals  from  without.  In 
the  miracle  he  does  that  very  thing,  for  "a  miracle"  is 
a  sign  the  essence  of  which  is  its  articulate  significance  to 
the  answering  intelligence  of  man.  But  in  the  natural 
course  of  providence  the  immanent  God  works  contin- 


AND  RELATION  TO  THE   UNIVERSE.  31 

uously,  without  interval,  from  within  through  the  spon- 
taneities of  the  things  themselves  in  which  he  dwells. 
He  is  not  in  one  object  or  event  any  more  than  in  all 
others.  The  whole  course  of  the  universe  is  divine  in 
every  part,  except  so  far  as  sin  has  marred  it,  and  all 
the  normal  activities  of  men  and  angels  are  religious — 
i.  e.  have  their  source  and  their  end  in  God. 

This  view,  therefore,  evidently  differs  from  Pantheism 
in  that  (1)  it  asserts  the  distinct  personality  of  God  as 
the  Head  of  a  moral  government  administered  over  free 
and  responsible  agents  by  a  system  of  ideas  and  motives. 
(2)  It  asserts  the  distinct  personality  and  moral  freedom 
and  responsibility  of  men.  (3)  It  maintains  the  distinc- 
tion of  the  human  and  the  divine  agency,  although  mak- 
ing the  former  depend  upon  the  latter.  (4)  It  embraces 
and  adjusts  itself  to  the  complementary  doctrine  of  the 
divine  transcendence,  which  Pantheism  renders  impossi- 
ble. (5)  While  Pantheism  makes  freedom,  morality  and 
religion  impossible,  this  view  of  the  divine  immanence  in 
all  things  is  the  necessary  basis  of  the  highest  freedom 
and  of  the  most  exalted  morality  and  of  the  most  vivid 
religion  conceivable.  (6)  This  view,  as  held  by  Chris- 
tians, not  only  admits,  but  affords  the  most  rational  basis 
attainable  for  the  supernatural ;  that  is,  for  the  activity 
in  the  sphere  of  nature  of  that  God  who  in  himself  infin- 
itely transcends  all  nature. 

III.  In  this  catholic  Christian  doctrine  of  the  relation 
of  God  to  the  universe  we  comprehend  all  the  half-truths 
or  heresies  which  have  divided  the  schools.  We  recog- 
nize all  the  facts,  and  we  reconcile  the  practical  faith  of 
Christians  with  the  highest  science,  and  we  provide  a 
rational  basis  alike  for  the  natural  and  the  supernatural, 


32  GOD— HIS  NATURE,  ETC. 

for  the  reign  of  law  and  for  special  miracle,  for  science 
and  for  practical  religion. 

Here  we  stand  under  the  blended  light  of  nature  and 
of  grace,  of  science  and  of  revelation.  God  the  infinite, 
and  therefore  the  timeless  and  spaceless,  the  absolutely 
unknowable,  remains  ever  the  unfathomable  Abyss.  In 
all  our  knowing  God  is  always  beyond  us,  hid  in  the 
light  which  is  impenetrable. 

At  the  same  time,  he  is  always  above  us,  enthroned 
in  heaven,  commanding,  revealing,  ruling,  showering 
myriad  blessings  from  above. 

At  the  same  time,  the  same  infinite  God  is  before  us, 
looking  upon  us  and  speaking  with  us  face  to  face.  He  is 
our  heavenly  Father.  He  has  formed  us  in  his  own  image. 
Our  highest  life  and  blessedness  are  found  in  his  per- 
sonal communion;  that  is,  personal  interchange  of  ideas 
and  of  affections,  for  our  fellowship  is  with  the  Father 
and  with  his  Son  Jesus  Christ. 

At  the  same  time,  God  is  ever  within  us,  the  ulti- 
mate ground  of  our  being  and  the  unfailing  source  of 
our  life,  the  wellspring  of  eternal  life,  the  inspiration  of 
all  spiritual  knowledge  and  beatitudes,  springing  up 
within  us  to  the  ages  of  the  ages. 

All  these  glimpses  of  this  immeasurable  mystery,  of 
God's  nature  and  of  his  relation  to  the  universe,  afforded 
by  the  light  of  nature,  are  reinforced  and  gloriously  sup- 
plemented and  illumined  by  the  revealed  truths  of  the 
Trinity  of  persons  and  of  the  incarnation  of  the  eternal 
Word. 


LECTURE  II. 

THE  SCRIPTURE  DOCTRINE  OF  DIVINE  PROVIDENCE. 

We  are  this  afternoon  to  consider  the  general  doctrine 
taught  in  the  inspired  Scriptures  of  the  providence  which 
God  exercises  over  the  world  and  its  inhabitants.  It  is 
evident  that  this  doctrine  presupposes,  and  can  be  under- 
stood only  in  the  light  of  what  was  ascertained  in  the 
previous  lecture  to  be  the  facts  of  the  case  as  to  God's 
nature  and  his  relation  to  the  universe. 

We  then  saw  that  there  have  prevailed  among  phil- 
osophers three  partial  views  as  to  God's  relation  to  the 
world,  each  presenting  one  side  of  the  truth,  but  each: 
radically  erroneous,  in  so  far  as  it  was  partial  and  denied 
the  complementary  truths  presented  by  the  others :  (1) 
The  agnostic,  maintaining  that  God  is  unknowable ;  (2.) 
the  pantheistic  or  naturalistic,  maintaining  that  God  is 
ever  present  and  active  in  every  element  of  every  cre- 
ated existence,  whether  spiritual  or  material ;  and  (3) 
the  deistical,  which  maintains  the  separate,  extramun- 
dane  existence  of  God  and  his  action  at  will  upon  all 
his  creatures  from  without. 

The  element  of  truth  in  all  of  these  alike  is  embraced 
and  assimilated  with  the  rest  in  Christian  Theism.  God 
is  essentially  unknowable.  We  can  know  only  those 
parts  of  his  nature,  of  his  relations  or  of  his  ways  which 
he  has  chosen  to  reveal  to  us.     And  at  the  best  the  crea- 

3  33 


34  THE  SCRIPTURE  DOCTRINE 

ture  can  know  even  that  which  he  is  permitted  to  know 
only  in  part.  At  the  same  time,  God  is  essentially  om- 
nipresent and  active  at  the  same  time  and  in  unbroken 
continuity  in  all  his  creatures.  Our  dependent  being 
exists  in  him,  and  our  dependent  energies  are  ceaselessly 
re-created  from  the  inexhaustible  fountain  of  his  life. 
All  nature  and  all  human  history  evolve  in  unbroken 
continuity  through  his  guiding,  co-operating  will  present 
in  aud  working  through  the  created  dependent  things 
themselves.  None  the  less  is  God  separate  from  the 
world,  existing  alike  extensively  and  intensively  infin- 
itely above  and  beyond  it. 

All  these  views  are  essentially  involved  in  all  our 
practical,  every-day  religious  experience.  We  all  sub- 
mit our  intellects  absolutely  to  Him,  as  we  reverently 
bow  before  the  inscrutable  mystery  of  His  being  who, 
although  his  essence  is  light,  in  his  relations  to  us  has 
"  made  darkness  his  secret  place,  and  his  pavilion  round 
about  him  the  dark  waters  and  the  thick  clouds  of  the 
skies"  (Ps.  18  :  11).  We  all  instinctively  recognize  his 
presence  and  activity  in  all  his  creatures,  and  in  all  their 
changes,  and  in  the  innermost  and  most  spontaneous  ex- 
ercises of  our  own  souls.  We  all  look  up  to  him  as  our 
Father,  speak  to  him  and  hear  him  speak  to  us  in  his 
word  and  providence.  He  deals  with  us  as  a  person 
exterior  to  ourselves.  He  presides  over  the  physical 
universe  and  over  communities  of  men  as  a  person  exte- 
rior and  superior  to  all.  He  controls  all  events  by  his 
interior  confluent  energies  according  to  a  plan,  one  and 
universal,  formed  before  the  beginning  of  the  world. 
He  has  formed  a  great  moral  government  over  his  intel- 
ligent creatures  as  men  and  angels,  and  governs  them  by 


OF  DIVINE  PROVIDENCE.  35 

commands  and  motives  objectively  presented,  and  by  his 
providences  and  by  his  word.  He  at  times,  and  for  pur- 
poses evidently  subsidiary  to  his  general  plan  and  to  his 
ordinary  methods,  acts  upon  the  system  of  second  causes 
from  without,  working  miracles,  or  signals  to  his  intel- 
ligent children,  thus  arousing  their  attention,  instructing 
their  faith  and  determining  their  action.  He  has  re- 
vealed the  great  end  of  his  whole  system  of  works,  to 
which  all  things,  in  all  eras  and  in  all  spheres,  work 
together,  to  be  the  giving  of  objective  expression  to  the 
perfections  of  his  own  nature,  or,  as  Ave  usually  phrase 
it,  the  manifestation  of  his  own  glory. 

In  all  our  religious  experience,  when  we  work  and 
when  we  study  and  when  we  pray,  God  is  always  at 
once  beyond  us  and  above  us  and  before  us  and  within 
us — at  once  the  source  of  all  life  and  movement,  the 
authority  binding  all  consciences,  and  the  sublime  object 
of  all  personal  love  and  worship. 

I.  The  word  providence  means,  first,  to  see  before- 
hand, and  then  to  exercise  all  that  care  and  control 
which  God's  infinite  prevision  of  his  own  ends  and 
his  knowledge  of  his  appointed  instrumentalities  may 
suggest. 

The  order  of  thought  in  theology  is  marked  by  the 
following  commonplaces:  Deus  existms,  God  existing; 
his  being,  attributes  and  threefold  personality ;  Deus 
volcns,  God  willing  or  forming  his  eternal  plan ;  Deus 
agens,  God  in  the  successions  of  time  executing  the 
plan  he  had  formed  in  eternity. 

Our  term  "  providence,"  then,  includes  generally  the 
entire  sum  of  all  God's  activities  exterior  to  himself  and 
subsequent  to  creation  through  all  time.    "  God  executes 


36  THE  SCRIPTURE  DOCTRINE 

his  decrees  "  or  plan  "  in  his  works  of  creation  and  prov- 
idence." Here  "providence"  evidently  includes  the 
entire  sum  of  God's  activities  of  all  kinds  with  reference 
to  his  creatures  previously  brought  into  existence.  It  is 
the  general  term  which  includes  all  varieties  or  special 
kinds  of  the  same.  It  includes  the  exercise  in  every 
mode  of  his  potestas  ordinata,  or  energy  exercised  along 
the  lines  of  pre-established  and  uniform  law,  and  his  potes- 
tas libera,  or  energy  put  forth  independently  of  all  estab- 
lished sequences  upon  special  occasion  and  as  determined 
by  his  personal  will.  This  includes  his  general  or  nat- 
ural providence,  embracing  the  universe  as  one  system 
and  operating  through  the  uniformities  of  natural  law, 
and  his  special  or  supernatural  providence,  acting  upon 
and  modifying  the  action  of  second  causes  from  without 
in  the  form  of  miracle  and  of  grace. 

We  should  clearly  apprehend  and  firmly  hold  the 
obvious  truth  that  what  we  distinguish  as  the  natural 
and  the  supernatural  providence  of  God — e.  g.  his  ordi- 
nary providence,  his  gracious  operations  and  his  mirac- 
ulous interventions — are  nevertheless  inseparable  parts 
of  one  harmonious  system  in  execution  of  one  plan  and 
the  various  manifestations  of  the  energy  of  one  God. 
They  run  on  together  at  the  same  time  as  the  work  of 
one  agent  and  the  execution  of  one  plan.  Ordinary 
providence  is  the  constant  fact  which  is  never  intermit- 
ted. Grace  always  presupposes  the  ordinary  providence, 
which  it  simply  supplements  and  perfects ;  and  the  mir- 
acle always  presupposes  grace,  which  it  subserves  and 
confirms.  In  the  case  of  an  apostolical  miracle,  as  in 
that  of  the  man  lame  from  his  mother's  womb  healed  at 
the  gate  of  the  temple  called  "  Beautiful  "  by  Peter  and 


OF  DIVINE  PROVIDENCE.  37 

John,  all  three  of  these  diverse  modes  of  the  divine  ac- 
tivity were  in  operation  at  the  same  time  and  as  neces- 
sary parts  of  one  interdependent  system  :  (1)  There  was 
the  ordinary  providence  of  God  sustaining  and  directing 
the  normal  action  of  the  bodies  and  souls  of  all  the  par- 
ties engaged  and  of  their  physical  and  moral  environ- 
ment. (2)  There  was  at  the  same  time  the  gracious 
operation  of  the  divine  Spirit  upon  the  souls  of  the 
apostle  and  of  the  subject  of  the  miraculous  cure,  pro- 
ducing their  appropriate  effects  in  their  sanctified  affec- 
tions. (3)  There  was  at  the  same  time,  and  in  perfect 
harmony  with  these,  the  miraculous  power  of  God  ex- 
ercised at  the  word  of  the  apostles  in  the  person  of  the 
man  born  lame. 

As  to  the  ultimate  method  of  God's  action  upon  or  in 
concurrence  with  natural  causes,  either  in  the  forms  of 
ordinary  providence,  of  grace  or  of  miracle,  we  absolutely 
know  nothing.  But  it  is  important  to  observe  that  we 
do  know  very  certainly  (1)  just  as  little  of  the  one  as 
of  the  other.  The  fact  that  we  cannot  understand  the 
modus  operandi  of  God  in  his  works  of  grace  or  of  mir- 
acle can  be  no  objection  to  the  admission  of  their  reality 
to  the  man  who  believes  in  the  reality  of  God's  ordinary 
providence  without  being  able  to  explain  its  method. 
(2)  We  know  that  God's  methods  of  operation,  whether 
natural  or  supernatural,  whether  in  the  forms  of  ordi- 
nary providence,  of  grace  or  of  miracle,  are  all  carried 
on  simultaneously,  are  all  mutually  harmonious,  are  all 
the  activities  of  one  and  the  same  infinite  Agent  and  in 
the  execution  of  one  all-comprehensive  plan. 

II.  Whatever,  however,  may  be  the,  to  us,  utterly  un- 
known ultimate  method  of  the  divine  operation,  either  in 


38  THE  SCRIPTURE  DOCTRINE 

and  through  natural  causes  from  within  or  upon  them 
from  without,  it  is  intuitively  certain,  a  priori,  that  they 
must  in  every  case  be  consistent  with  what  God  has 
otherwise  revealed  to  us  of  his  own  essential  nature. 
It  is  simply  impossible  that  God  can  deny  himself  or 
ever  in  any  form  act  in  a  manner  incougruous  with  his 
own  perfections. 

Hence  it  follows — 1st.  That  the  providence  of  God  in 
all  its  modes,  whether  natural  or  supernatural,  whether 
ordinary,  gracious  or  miraculous,  must  be,  all  and  several, 
the  execution  of  one  single  indivisible  plan.  There  can 
be  no  real  incongruities  or  antagonisms  between  the  nat- 
ural and  the  supernatural  or  between  ordinary  providence 
and  grace.  God,  being  eternal  and  infinite  in  knowledge 
and  wisdom,  sees  the  end  from  the  beginning.  There 
can  be  with  him  no  surprise  nor  repentance  nor  change 
of  plan  nor  divided  counsel.  All  that  he  purposes  must 
be  one  purpose ;  all  that  he  does,  of  every  various  mode 
of  activity,  must  be  the  execution  of  the  one  purpose,  and 
must  therefore  constitute  one  harmonious  system. 

2d.  Hence  it  follows  with  equal  certainty  that  the 
providence  of  God  must  be  universal.  It  must  compre- 
hend in  its  grasp  equally  every  agent  and  every  event 
without  the  least  discontinuity  or  exception.  One  event 
is  never  in  any  degree  more  providential  than  any 
other  event.  There  prevails  a  very  unintelligent  and 
really  irreligious  habit  among  many  true  Christians  of 
passing  unnoticed  the  evidence  of  God's  presence  in  the 
ordinary  course  of  nature,  and  of  recognizing  it  on  the 
occasion  of  some  event  specially  involving  their  supposed 
interests,  as  if  it  were  special  and  unusual.  They  will 
say  of  some  sudden,  scarcely-hoped-for  deliverance  from 


OF  DIVINE  PROVIDENCE.  39 

danger,  "  Why,  I  think  I  may  venture  to  say  it  was 
really  providential."  But  would  it  have  been  any  the 
less  providential  if  they  had  been  destroyed  and  nut  de- 
livered? Would  it  have  been  any  the  less  providential 
if  they  had  not  been  in  jeopardy  at  all  and  had  needed 
no  deliverance  ?  The  great  Dr.  Witherspoon  lived  at  a 
country-seat  called  Tusculuru,  on  Rocky  Hill,  two  miles 
north  of  Princeton.  One  day  a  man  rushed  into  his 
presence  crying,  "  Dr.  Witherspoon,  help  me  to  thank 
God  for  his  wonderful  providence.  My  horse  ran  away, 
my  buggy  was  dashed  to  pieces  on  the  rocks,  and  behold ! 
I  am  unharmed."  The  good  doctor  laughed  benevo- 
lently at  the  inconsistent,  halfway  character  of  the  man's 
religion.  "  Why,"  he  answered,  "  I  know  a  providence 
a  thousand  times  better  than  that  of  yours.  I  have 
driven  down  that  rocky  road  to  Princeton  hundreds  of 
times  and  my  horse  never  ran  away  and  my  buggy  was 
never  dashed  to  pieces."  Undoubtedly,  the  deliverance 
was  providential,  but  just  as  much  so  also  were  the  un- 
eventful rides  of  the  college  president.  God  is  in  the 
atom  just  as  really  and  effectually  as  in  the  planet.  He 
is  in  the  unobserved  sighing  of  the  wind  in  the  wilder- 
ness as  in  the  earthquake  which  overthrows  a  city  full 
of  living  men,  and  his  infinite  wisdom  and  power  are  as 
much  concerned  in  the  one  event  as  in  the  other. 

There  is  a  distinction  to  be  observed  between  God's 
natural  providence,  which  is  universal  and  ordinary,  and 
his  supernatural  providence,  which  is  occasional  and 
special.  His  natural  providence  is  equally  in  every 
thing  and  event,  but  his  grace  and  his  supernatural  in- 
tervention are  in  one  event  and  not  in  another,  at  one 
time  and  not  at  another.     It  is  proper,  therefore,  to  dis- 


40  THE  SCRIPTURE  DOCTRINE 

tinguish  his  natural  providence  as  general,  and  his  grace 
or  his  supernatural   providence  as  special.     But  it  is 
essential  to  understand  that  in  the  ordinary  sense  of 
providence  relating  to  the  course  of  events  in  our  nat- 
ural lives  the  common  distinction  between  general  and 
special  providence  is  unintelligent  and  irreligious.     All 
God's  providence  is  at  the  same  time  both  general  and 
special,  and  general  because  it  is  special,  and  special  be- 
cause it  is  general.     It  is  general  because  it  reaches  by 
continuous  action  equally  every  element  of  the  world 
and  every  event.     It  is  special   for  the  same  reason, 
because,  reaching  equally  to  every  particular,  it  reaches 
universally  to  all  particulars  and  to  their  entire  sum. 
That  which  controls  every  link  controls  the  whole  chain. 
That  which  controls  the  movement  of  every  atom  con- 
trols the  whole  world.     That  which  controls  the  thought 
and  volition  of  every  man  controls  the  entire  course  of 
human  history.     God  does  not  come  down  from  above 
upon  the  course  of  our  lives  in  spots.    His  whole  infinite 
being  dwells  everlastingly  in  each  atom  and  each  spirit. 
He  is  universally  in  all  things,  because  he  is  ever  equally 
in  each  thing.     In  every  grain  of  sand,  in  every  drop 
of  water,  in  every  pulse  of  air,  in  every  flower  that 
blows,  in  every  infant  soul,  in  every  human  thought  and 
will  and  act,  in  the  equable  flow  of  natural  law,  in  the 
great  catastrophe   of  exploding  worlds  or  of  nations 
brought  to  judgment,  in  the  fall  of  Adam,  in  the  giving 
of  the  law  on  Sinai,  in  the  redemption  of  man  on  Cal- 
vary, in  the  mission  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  in  the  resur- 
rection of  the  dead  and  in  the  eternal  judgment,— how- 
ever heterogeneous  these  agents  and  events  in  themselves, 
however  incommensurate   their   significance  to  us,  and 


OF  DIVINE  PROVIDENCE.  41 

however  various  is  the  method  of  the  divine  operation 
in  them  severally,  yet  in  them  all  the  one  Jehovah  is 
equally  present  with  his  absolute  perfections  and  in  his 
supreme  potency.  Events  may  be  infinitely  different  in 
their  significance  as  well  as  in  their  importance  to  us, 
yet  the  truly  religious  mind  finds  equally  in  all  things, 
even  the  least  significant  and  the  least  important,  the 
presence  and  supreme  control  and  the  benevolent  ad- 
ministration of  our  heavenly  Father. 

3d.  It  is  equally  self-evident  and  certain  that  the  whole 
of  God's  providence  in  every  part  of  it  must  be  an  ex- 
pression of  his  essential  perfections,  of  infinite  wisdom 
and  power  and  of  absolute  righteousness  and  benevo- 
lence. Nothing  can  be  a  surprise  to  his  intelligence,  or 
too  complicated  for  his  wisdom,  or  too  difficult  for  his 
power,  or  inconsistent  with  his  perfect  righteousness  or 
love. 

These  essential  attributes  of  the  great  Euler  are 
abundantly  manifested  in  all  his  works.  The  whole 
universe,  and  the  entire  course  of  its  history  as  far  as 
known  to  us,  exhibit  unquestioned  evidence  of  limitless 
intelligence  and  power  and  of  unmistakable  righteous- 
ness and  benevolence.  This  is  witnessed  to  by  the  entire 
volume  of  human  literature,  that  of  philosophers,  sci- 
entists and  poets,  as  well  as  that  of  the  special  devotees 
of  religion. 

Nevertheless,  the  course  of  providence  from  the  point 
of  view  of  man  unilluminated  by  a  supernatural  reve- 
lation is  full  of  anomalies  to  him  utterly  insoluble.  The 
question  is  not  whether  the  face  of  nature  and  the  course 
of  providence  give  evidence  of  the  intelligence,  power, 
righteousness  and  goodness  of  God— this  is  admitted  by 


42  THE  SCRIPTURE  DOCTRINE 

all  sober  men — but  the  true  question  is,  as  put  by  John 
Stuart  Mill  in  his  posthumously  published  Essay  on 
Theism,  Are  the  facts  of  nature  and  the  history  of  events, 
as  we  know  them,  possibly  reconcilable  with  the  belief 
that  the  Creator  and  Controller  of  the  world  is  at  the 
same  time  infinite  in  his  wisdom  and  in  his  power  and 
in  his  righteousness  and  in  his  goodness?  Mr.  Mill  is 
assured  that  this  reconciliation  is  impossible  in  view  of 
the  awful  prevalence  of  moral  and  physical  evil.  He  is 
sure  that  God  must  be  limited  either  in  his  wisdom  or 
his  power  or  his  benevolence,  and  is  inclined  to  think 
that  he  is  limited  in  all,  and  upon  the  whole,  with  an 
imperfect  standard  and  a  limited  ability,  strives  to  do  as 
well  as  he  can. 

The  apparent  incongruousness  of  the  facts,  and  hence 
the  difficulty  of  the  problem,  we  admit.  But  we  have 
seen  God  because  we  have  seen  Christ,  and  we  have 
learned  to  read  all  the  course  of  providence  in  the  light 
of  the  Cross.  Since  the  baptism  of  Pentecost  we  have 
been  convicted  of  sin  and  of  a  guilt  we  are  utterly  un- 
able to  gainsay  or  remove.  We  have  been  convinced 
that  the  finite  can  never  measure  the  Infinite,  and  that 
self-convicted  sinners  can  never  judge  the  integrity  of 
the  All-holy.  In  the  light  of  Calvary  we  have  an  im- 
pregnable assurance  that  the  Father  of  our  Lord  and 
Saviour  Jesus  Christ  is  unlimited  in  wisdom  and  in 
power,  and  that  he  can  do  no  wrong.  Bowing  our  heads 
in  unquestioning  submission  to  his  sovereign  rights  and 
with  confidence  iu  his  absolute  perfection,  we  exclaim  in 
the  face  of  all  apparent  anomalies,  "  Oh  the  depth  of  the 
riches  both  of  the  wisdom  and  knowledge  of  God  !  how 
unsearchable  are  his  judgmeuts,  and  his  ways  pa^t  find- 


OF  DIVINE  PROVIDENCE.  43 

ins;  out !  For  who  hath  known  the  mind  of  the  Lord, 
and  who  hath  been  his  counselor  ?  Or  who  hath  first 
given  to  him,  and  it  shall  be  recompensed  unto  him 
again?  For  of  him,  and  through  him,  and  to  him,  are 
all  things  :  to  whom  be  glory  for  ever.  Amen  "  (Rom. 
11  :  33-36). 

III.  It  is  no  less  certain  that,  whatever  be  the  ulti- 
mate method  of  God's  exercise  of  his  energy  in  provi- 
dence, it  must  necessarily  be  in  a  manner  perfectly 
congruous  to  the  nature  of  his  creatures  upon  which 
and  through  which  he  works,  and  with  the  laws  of  their 
action.  It  is  impossible  to  believe  that  the  all-perfect 
Creator  of  all  things  will  in  his  subsequent  control  of 
their  action  violate  the  properties  with  which  he  has 
endowed  them  or  the  laws  he  has  imposed  upon  them. 
The  Scriptures  everywhere  and  constantly  take  for 
granted  the  principles  of  "  natural  realism  "  which  cor- 
respond to  the  instinctive  judgments  and  the  spoken  and 
written  languages  of  all  men.  Material  and  spiritual 
beings  are  real  entities.  They  have  real,  substantial, 
objective  existence.  Although  they  are  ever  dependent 
upon  their  First  Cause,  they  are  nevertheless  real  active 
agents  and  causes.  God  has  endowed  them  each  and 
severally,  according  to  their  respective  kinds,  with  their 
essential  properties  and  powers  of  action,  which,  as  far 
as  we  know,  never  change  or  fail.  We  trace  an  abso- 
lutely unbroken  continuity  in  the  action  of  these  second 
causes  through  the  entire  history  of  the  world  and  of 
mankind.  These  elements,  thus  originally  endowed 
with  unchangeable  properties,  act  and  react  with  invari- 
able uniformity  under  the  same  conditions ;  and  as  the 
conditions  change  they  act  differently,  but  always  in  a 


44  THE  SCRIPTURE  DOCTRINE 

way  uniformly  related  to  the  conditions  under  which 
they  act.  As,  therefore,  the  general  adjustments  or 
groupings  of  second  causes  under  which  they  act  are  for 
the  most  part  uniform  from  age  to  age,  and  change  only 
locally  and  slowly,  the  uniformity  of  action  which  re- 
sults gives  origin  to  what  are  called  "  laws  of  nature," 
which  continue  absolutely  uniform  as  long  as  the  adjust- 
ments or  groupings  of  these  causes  remain  unchanged. 
It  is  obvious  that  we  apply  this  only  to  the  world  of 
matter  and  to  certain  spheres  of  the  natural  actions  of 
spirits.  The  spirit  of  men  in  certain  spheres  of  action 
is  confessedly  endowed  with  the  divine  power  of  origin- 
ating and  directing  its  own  action  independently  of  its 
external  environment.  But  in  the  sphere  of  purely 
natural  causes  men  never  seek  to  attain  their  ends  by 
violating  the  "  laws  of  nature."  On  the  contrary,  they 
seek  by  science  to  attain  a  definite  knowledge  of  those 
laws  under  all  varieties  of  condition,  and  then  they  so 
apply  this  knowledge,  by  varying  the  conditions  under 
which  the  natural  causes  act,  that  the  very  laws  of  nature 
themselves,  thus  directed,  work  out  their  purposes  for 
them.  Thus  steam  and  electricity  in  the  hands  of  men 
obey  the  "  laws  of  nature  "  as  implicitly  as  they  do  when 
nature  is  left  to  itself,  only  the  same  causes  naturally 
produce  different  effects  under  changed  conditions. 

Now,  men  of  pure  science,  habitually  confining  their 
attention  to  the  uniformities  of  nature's  action  under  the 
uniform  conditions  existing,  regard  the  habit  of  religious 
men  in  ascribing  results  to  the  action  of  a  personal  agent 
having  personal  aims  in  view,  and  special  reference  to 
human  characters  and  necessities,  as  irrational  and  super- 
stitious.    And  hence,  on  the  other  hand,  many  unintel- 


OF  DIVINE  PROVIDENCE.  45 

ligent  religious  men  regard  the  point  of  view  of  men  of 
science  as  essentially  irreligious.  But  it  is  obvious  that 
these  contrasted  views  of  the  course  of  events  in  the  nat- 
ural world  are  not  mutually  contradictory,  but  supple- 
mentary. They  are  the  two  equally  true  and  real  sides 
of  the  one  system  of  objects.  If  even  men  comparatively 
ignorant  and  impotent  can  so  wonderfully  make  the 
powers  and  laws  of  nature  subservient  to  their  own  pur- 
poses without  violating  them,  why  cannot  God  at  least 
do  the  same  ?  Nay,  why,  since  God's  knowledge  and 
power  are  alike  absolutely  limitless,  should  not  the 
whole  of  nature  be  as  plastic  to  his  will  as  the  air  in  the 
organs  of  a  great  musician  who  articulates  it  into  a  fit 
expression  of  every  thought  and  passion  of  his  soaring 
soul.  The  reason  that  this  analogy  is  not  immediately 
conclusive  to  every  mind  is,  that  when  man  arranges  the 
conditions  so  as  to  render  the  action  of  nature  subservi- 
ent to  his  purpose  you  can  always  trace  his  trail,  see  the 
visible  marks  of  his  interfering  agency,  while  the  course 
of  nature  flows  on  with  mathematical  precision  of  phys- 
ical action,  without  the  least  trace  of  a  providential  inter- 
ference ab  extra.  But  it  is  forgotten  that  while  man  is 
always  locally  outside  his  work,  and  acts  upon  all  ele- 
ments from  without,  and  in  succession,  a  part  at  a  time, 
God  is  simultaneously  present  and  active  within  every 
ultimate  element.  His  impulse  is  therefore  through,  not 
outside  of,  their  own  spontaneities.  His  control  is  neither 
partial  nor  successive,  but  simultaneously  in  the  entire 
universe,  thus  co-ordinating  all  adjustments  and  all  re- 
actions in  the  execution  of  one  plan  and  in  the  current 
of  one  issue. 

There  are  two  extreme  tendencies  to  which  different 


46  THE  SCRIPTURE  DOCTRINE 

persons  are  inclined  when  regarding  the  course  of  events 
in  the  world,  each  of  which  is  evidently  false  when  ex- 
clusively indulged,  but  both  of  which  together,  when 
combined,  lead  to  the  true  attitude  which  every  Chris- 
tian should  cultivate :  the  view  of  the  mere  naturalist,  in 
which  the  supernatural  is  altogether  merged  in  the  nat- 
ural, and,  conversely,  the  view  of  the  pantheist,  in  which 
the  natural  is  altogether  merged  in  the  supernatural. 
And  these  apparently  opposite  extremes  virtually  come 
to  the  same  thing,  because  they  both  equally  exclude  a  per- 
sonal God  and  human  freedom,  and  maintain  a  naturalistic 
fatalism.  But  both  present  a  side  of  the  one  truth.  The 
natural  is  the  fixed  and  regulated  method  which  the  per- 
sonal heavenly  Father  has  laid  down  for  his  own  guid- 
ance ;  the  supernatural  does  neither  exclude  nor  super- 
sede the  natural,  but  it  is  the  self-revelation  of  the 
heavenly  Father,  who  works  through  natural  law,  as 
the  personal  Agent  who,  haviug  ordained  law,  uses  it  to 
accomplish  his  spiritual  purposes.  The  universe  has  a 
personal  basis.  The  laws  of  nature  are  the  methods 
self-ordained  of  a  personal  Agent.  The  true  scientists 
are  the  sons  of  God,  who  were  not  created  for  the  laws 
of  nature,  but  the  laws  of  nature  for  them. 

After  the  Charleston  earthquake  the  Christian  preach- 
ers endeavored  to  enforce  upon  their  hearers  the  scriptural 
lessons  of  the  event  viewed  as  a  divine  dispensation. 
The  visiting  scientists  are  represented  as  having  scoffed 
contemptuously,  maintaining  that  the  preachers  should 
have  confined  themselves  to  an  exposition  of  the  laws 
of  nature  and  drawn  comfort  from  the  proven  exceptional 
character  of  such  experiences.  These  men  of  mere  sci- 
ence may  have  been  able  and  useful  in  their  narrow  spe- 


OF  DIVINE  PROVIDENCE.  47 

eialty,  but  they  were  certainly  very  absurd  philosophers. 
They  were  perfectly  right  in  confining  their  own  inves- 
tigations to  the  scientific  aspects  of  the  phenomena,  and 
the  preachers  had  an  equal  authority  in  calling  the  atten- 
tion of  the  Christian  people  to  the  aspect  which  the  light 
of  the  inspired  Scriptures,  when  thrown  upon  the  provi- 
dential facts,  presented.  We  say,  advisedly,  that  the 
preachers'  authority  in  the  premises  is  limited  to  the 
application  of  the  light  of  the  inspired  Scriptures  to  the 
current  facts.  They  have  no  right  to  assume  the  role  of 
prophets,  as  too  many  are  at  times  inclined  to  do ;  and 
no  man  not  the  subject  of  plenary  inspiration  should 
dare  to  explain  the  ultimate  divine  purpose  in  any  par- 
ticular event  or  its  relation  to  human  guilt.  The  Master 
himself  said,  "  Suppose  ye  that  those  eighteen  upon 
whom  the  tower  in  Siloam  fell  were  sinners  above  all 
men  that  dwell  in  Jerusalem  ?  I  tell  you,  Nay ;  but 
except  ye  repent  ye  shall  all  likewise  perish"  (Luke 
13:4,  5). 

IV.  Providence,  as  made  known  to  us  in  Scripture, 
history  and  our  religious  experience,  includes  two  dis- 
tinct exercises  of  the  divine  energy :  (1st)  preservation, 
and  (2d)  government. 

1st.  Preservation  is  the  continuous  exercise  of  the 
divine  omnipotence  through  successive  duration  uphold- 
ing all  creatures  in  being  and  in  power.  This  does  not 
in  the  least  confound  the  Creator  and  Preserver  with  his 
works,  nor  does  it  invalidate  the  separate  objective  exist- 
ence and  the  real  efficiency  of  these  created  elements  as 
second  causes.  But  it  simply  affirms  that  they  are  es- 
sentially and  continuously  dependent  existences  and 
causes.     All  atoms  of  matter  and  all  created  spirits  live 


48  THE  SCRIPTURE  DOCTRINE 

and  move  and  have  all  their  being  and  the  unfail- 
ing spring  of  all  their  energies  in  him  only.  If  he 
should  withdraw  his  supporting  power,  the  whole 
dependent  universe  would  lapse  into  non-being  imme- 
diately. 

2d.  Government  includes  God's  control  of  all  the 
activities  of  all  his  creatures  of  every  kind,  and  his 
direction  of  them  toward  the  fulfilling  of  his  one  eter- 
nal plan. 

[1.]  That  God  has  one  universal  plan  which  he  exe- 
cutes with  uudeviating  purpose  in  all  his  works  of  cre- 
ation and  of  providence  is  made  very  certain,  first,  from 
the  fact  that  he  is  an  infinite  Intelligence  acting  from 
eternity  before  all  Avorlds,  and  absolutely  unconditioned 
by  any  facts  or  powers  external  to  himself.  Secondly, 
from  all  that  the  Scriptures  teach  us  as  to  his  sovereignty, 
eternal  foreknowledge,  and  as  to  making  his  own  glory 
the  single  end  of  all  things.  And  thirdly,  the  same  fact 
is  obviously  exhibited  in  the  unexceptional  experience 
of  all  generations  of  men,  and  the  revelations  of  modern 
science,  exhibiting  the  absolutely  unbroken  continuity  of 
thought  and  purpose  and  of  divine  superintendence  and 
control  in  the  whole  universe,  in  all  its  parts  and  during 
all  its  successive  ages.  Of  course  this  general  plan, 
although  one  and  indivisible,  has  many  subordinate  sys- 
tems successive  and  contemporaneous,  and  many  varieties 
of  method.  To  us,  of  course,  these  appear  very  various, 
and  sometimes  we  make  the  mistake  of  regarding  them 
as  mutually  inconsistent.  But  while  various  they  are 
only  to  be  understood  when  conceived  as  the  many 
articulated  members  of  one  consummate  system,  reach- 
ing through  all  space  and  all  time  and  all  spheres. 


OF  DIVINE  PROVIDENCE.  49 

Here  we  see  that  whatever  is  really  true  and  significant 
in  the  famous  but  recent  scientific  doctrine  of  evolution 
had  for  many  ages  been  anticipated  by  the  Augustinian 
theology.  Whatever  may  eventually  turn  out  to  be  the 
facts  with  regard  to  geuetic  evolutions  through  successive 
natural  births,  all  must  unite  in  recognizing  the  fact  that 
the  universe  in  all  its  spheres  and  through  all  its  history 
is  the  continuous  logical  evolution  of  one  purpose,  to  one 
end,  through  the  energies  of  one  infallible  and  inex- 
haustible Will. 

[2.]  God  effectually  governs  all  his  creatures  and  all 
their  actions  by  a  method  to  us  inscrutable,  but  certainly 
consistent  with  his  own  perfections  and  with  their  prop- 
erties and  laws.  This  government  is  revealed  in  the 
Scriptures  and  in  our  experience  to  be  universal,  cer- 
tainly efficient,  holy,  benevolent  and  wise. 

a.  In  matter  God  governs  all  things,  apparently  bv 
the  distribution  and  adjustment  of  material  particles 
under  the  great  categories  of  time,  place,  quantity  and 
quality.  This  procedure  leaves  the  properties  and  laws 
of  matter  entirely  unmodified,  and  it  makes  the  omni- 
present, omniscient  and  omnipotent  God  Lord  of  all. 

b.  The  providence  of  God  over  his  rational  creatures 
involves  three  elements  :  First,  his  working  in  the  entire 
sphere  of  their  environment,  presenting  external  motives 
and  influences,  moulding  character  and  stimulating  to 
action.  Secondly,  his  working  in  their  bodies  and  souls 
through  the  natural  laws  of  their  organizations,  through 
the  entire  process  of  their  growth.  And  thirdly,  his 
immanent  working  within  their  will,  whereby  his  direct- 
ive energy  becomes  confluent  with  their  own  sponta- 
neity, and  "  he  turns  the  hearts  of  men  as  the  rivers  of 

4 


50  THE  SCRIPTURE  DOCTRINE 

water  are  turned,"  aud  "  works  in  us  to  will,  and  be 
willing  to  do,  of  his  own  good  pleasure." 

The  redeemed  Christian  is  a  child  already  at  home  in 
his  Father's  house.  All  these  beauties  and  all  this 
abundant  wealth  belong  to  our  Father,  and  are  set  apart 
for  our  use.  All  things  whatsoever  that  come  to  pass, 
however  dark  and  enigmatical,  are  expressions  of  our 
Father's  will,  and  are  wisely  designed  to  promote  our 
welfare  in  the  present  and  to  secure  it  with  infallible 
certainty  in  the  great  Hereafter.  The  word  "  chance  " 
expresses  simply  a  relation.  An  event  happens  by 
"  chance  "  when  the  causes  which  produce  it  are  so  com- 
plex or  so  unusual  as  to  be  incapable  of  rational  expecta- 
tion by  us.  Hence,  as  far  as  God  is  concerned,  there  is 
absolutely  no  such  thing  as  chance.  As  for  as  we  are 
concerned,  all  events  which  lie  beyond  the  reach  of  sci- 
entific prediction  fall  into  the  category  of  chance.  But 
by  faith  we  embrace  the  infinitely  wise  will  of  God  and 
accept  all  events  as  the  excellent  will  of  our  heavenly 
Father.  Creation  and  providence  are  seen  to  be  the 
preparatory  work  which  culminates  in  redemption.  "VVe 
read  all  the  means  in  the  light  of  the  glorious  end.  God 
is  in  every  experience,  making  "  known  unto  us  the  mys- 
tery of  his  will,  according  to  his  good  pleasure,  which 
he  hath  purposed  in  himself,  that  in  the  dispensation  of 
the  fullness  of  times  he  might  gather  together  all  things 
in  Christ,  both  which  are  in  heaven  and  which  are  on 
earth,  even  in  him.  In  whom  also  we  have  obtained  an 
inheritance,  being  predestinated  according  to  the  purpose 
of  Him  who  worketh  all  things  after  the  counsel  of  his 
own  will :  that  we  who  first  trusted  in  Christ  should  be 
to  the  praise  of  his  glory." 


OF  DIVINE  PROVIDENCE.  51 

"  Oh  the  depth  of  the  riches  both  of  the  wisdom  and 
knowledge  of  God !  how  unsearchable  are  his  judgments, 
and  his  ways  past  finding  out !  For  of  him,  and  through 
him,  and  to  him,  are  all  things ;  to  whom  be  glory  for 
ever.     Amen." 


LECTURE    III. 

MIRACLES. 

These  are  supernatural  events  implying  a  special  and 
exceptional  mode  of  God's  providential  action. 

I.  The  first  thing  we  have  to  do  in  discussing  the  na- 
ture and  attributes  of  a  particular  class  of  phenomena  is 
to  settle  between  ourselves  very  distinctly  a  common  un- 
derstanding as  to  what  particular  class  of  phenomena  we 
are  talking  about,  The  word  "miracle"  has  been  so 
vaguely  and  promiscuously  used  that,  unless  we  come  to 
an  understanding  as  to  the  kind  of  events  to  which  we 
aoree  to  restrict  its  application  in  this  discussion,  we 
should  only  talk  at  cross-purposes. 

It  should  be  remembered  that  there  are  two  kinds  of 
definitions :  (1)  nominal  or  verbal,  and  (2)  real.  The 
former  defines  the  thing  by  the  etymology  or  the  general 
usage  of  its  name.  The  latter  defines  it  by  its  own  na- 
ture or  relations. 

In  the  present  case  it  is  essential  to  recognize  the  fact 
that  a  verbal  definition  of  miracles,  or  a  definition  formed 
upon  a  study  of  the  etymology  or  usage  of  the  word 
"  miracle,"  would  be  of  not  the  least  value.  The  word 
itself  simply  means  a  wonder;  that  is,  it  defines  the 
events  called  "  miracles  "  not  by  any  essential  character- 
istic of  the  events  themselves,  but  simply  by  the  effect 
they  happen  to  produce  upon  the  minds  of  some  classes 

52 


MIRACLES.  53 

of  beholders.  That  this  is  absurd  is  easily  shown  by  an 
illustration.  A  missionary  in  the  use  of  a  chemical  ap- 
paratus turned  water  into  solid  ice  in  the  presence  of  the 
king  of  Siam.  To  the  missionary  it  was  a  common 
effect  of  a  combination  of  natural  causes ;  to  the  king 
of  Siam  and  his  courtiers  it  was  an  unparalleled  wonder. 
The  like  had  never  been  a  matter  of  previous  experience 
in  all  the  land  or  in  all  its  history.  Yet  it  was  not  a 
miracle  to  them.  If  they  had  regarded  it  as  one,  they 
would  have  been  miserably  deceived,  and  would  soon 
have  been  brought  to  discredit  all  that  had  been  associ- 
ated with  it  in  its  assumed  character. 

These  events  are  designated  in  Scripture  by  various 
descriptive  titles  which  severally  connote  their  various 
aspects  and  relations.  Their  true  nature  is  represented 
adequately  by  no  one  of  these  names  separately,  but  all 
collectively  should  be  understood  as  describing  rather 
than  as  denning  the  class.  These  names  are  in  Hebrew 
nta,  signum,  portentum;  nS$;  something  separated,  sin- 
gular; n*3«3,  power,  some  extraordinary  manifestation  of 
divine  power.  Also,  the  Greek  xkpara,  wonders; 
duvdpeez,  powerful  works,  manifesting  divine  power; 
<T7)fxe7a,  signs.  All  these  words  signify  real  properties 
or  qualities  of  the  "  miracle,"  and  especially  the  last. 
The  "  miracle  "  was  distinctively  God's  "  sign  "  to  man. 
Having  thus  dismissed,  as  profitless,  the  attempt  to 
form  a  verbal  definition  of  the  "  miracle,"  how  shall  we 
proceed  to  designate  sharply  the  class  of  events  to  which, 
by  common  consent,  the  name  should  be  restricted  ? 

We  take  the  first  step,  then,  when  we  point  out  the 
fact  that  the  terms  "  miracle  "  and  "  the  supernatural  " 
are  not  coextensive.     Every  miracle  is  supernatural,  but 


54  MIRACLES. 

every  supernatural  event  is  by  no  means  a  miracle. 
"  The  supernatural "  is  the  genus,  while  "  the  miracle  " 
is  a  subordinate  species  of  that  genus. 

The  first  thing,  therefore,  is  to  attempt  to  reach  a 
clear,  distinct  conception  of  "  the  supernatural."  Super- 
natural events  are  of  infinitely  various  kinds,  yet  they 
all  have  a  common  quality  which  renders  them  super- 
natural, and  which  distinguishes  them  from  all  kinds  of 
events  simply  natural.  What,  then,  is  the  common 
quality  of  all  supernatural  events? 

"  Nature  "  is  from  nascor,  to  be  brought  to  the  birth, 
to  be  produced,  to  become.  The  external  world  is  the 
common  type  of  pure  nature.  It  is  always  becoming. 
Its  process  is  genesis.  In  unbroken  continuity  the 
events  of  this  moment  proceed  from  the  events  of  the 
last  moment,  and  give  birth  to  the  events  of  the  next 
moment.  Viewed  as  a  fecund  cause,  the  whole  external 
universe  is  the  natura  naturans— nature  bringing  forth  ; 
and  viewed  as  a  manifold  effect,  the  same  universe  is 
every  moment  the  natura  naturata — nature  just  brought 

forth. 

The  supernatural  is,  therefore,  that  which  is  above 
nature,  which  springs  from,  and  therefore  manifests,  a 
higher  cause.  But  scholars,  philosophers  and  theolo- 
gians greatly  differ  as  to  where  they  draw  the  line  be- 
tween the  natural  and  the  supernatural. 

1.  Many  draw  it  between  matter  and  spirit,  and  hence 
just  between  the  body  and  the  soul  of  man.  The  body 
and  the  whole  material  world  obey  the  law  of  necessity, 
while  the  soul  moves  spontaneously  and  is  self-deter- 
mined in  the  light  of  reason  and  conscience.  Hence 
Coleridge,  Bushnell  and  other  high  authorities  class  the 


MIRACLES.  55 

body  and  material  world  as  natural,  and  the  soul  of  man 
and  the  entire  world  of  spirits  as  supernatural.  What- 
ever reason  there  may  be  for  this  distinction,  it  is  evident 
that  it  will  not  help  us  in  this  discussion.  Men — their 
souls  as  well  as  their  bodies — have  their  genesis,  inherit 
natures,  and  their  action  and  entire  history  are  determined 
by  their  nature.  Hence  by  general  consent  all  that  is 
human  is  natural. 

2.  Others  draw  the  line  between  the  natural  and  the 
supernatural  just  above  men  and  between  man  and  the 
angelic  world.  The  supernatural  is  thus  equivalent  to 
the  superhuman.  This  is  a  very  common  conception, 
and  determines  much  of  our  current  language.  All  that 
belongs  to  ghosts  or  disembodied  spirits  of  dead  men, 
and  all  that  belongs  to  angels  or  devils,  are  called  "  super- 
natural." This  is  a  legitimate  use  of  the  word.  But  it 
is  not  accurate  or  stable  enough  to  suit  our  purpose. 
Evidently,  no  action  of  angels  or  devils  could  be  classed 
as  supernatural  in  the  same  sense  that  a  miracle,  in  the 
Bible  sense  of  that  word,  is.  All  created  spirits,  as  well 
as  all  created  worlds,  have  their  genesis,  all  have  their 
God-given  natures,  all  are  under  law.  Therefore  every 
adequate  sense  of  the  word  "  nature  "  must  take  in  the 
universe  as  a  whole.  It  is  one  system,  and  cannot  be 
divided  into  two  separate  parts,  the  one  called  "  nature," 
and  the  other  set  apart  as  independent  and  styled  "  the 
supernatural."  We  consequently  draw  the  line  between 
the  natural  aud  the  supernatural  in  this  discussion,  be- 
tween God  and  the  universe,  between  the  Creator  and 
the  creature,  between  the  absolute  and  the  relative  and 
contingent.  The  "  supernatural,"  therefore,  is  a  peculiar 
kind  or  mode  of  God's  action  on  and  through  his  crea- 


56  MIRACLES. 

tures.  As  far  as  we  know,  this  supernatural  action  of 
God  in  nature  is  exercised  in  the  modes  of  (1)  special 
intervention  in  behalf  of  persons  in  the  interest  of  a 
moral  system ;  (2)  gracious  operation  in  the  souls  of 
Christ's  people ;  (3)  revelation  of  new  truth,  and  inspi- 
ration controlling  the  communication  of  truth  in  the 
case  of  prophets,  etc. ;  (4)  "  miracles,"  in  the  special  and 
technical  sense  of  that  word. 

It  is  common  to  regard  creation  as  the  type  of  the 
supernatural  and  of  the  miracle.  But  the  distinction  is 
obvious  and  important.  Creation,  or  the  bringing  of 
the  thing  into  existence,  must  differ  from  every  mode  of 
divine  action  on  it  or  through  it  after  it  is  existent. 

Creation  is  God's  bringing  his  creatures  into  exist- 
ence. 

Ordinary  providence  is  God's  sustaining  and  govern- 
ing all  his  creatures  and  all  their  actions  after  they  are 
created.  This  ordinary  providence  always  works  through 
natural  causes  and  according  to  the  uniformities  of  nat- 
ural law. 

The  supernatural  toorhing  of  God  embraces  all  of  his 
various  modes  of  acting  upon  or  through  his  creatures, 
which  produce  effects  beyond  their  natural  powers  to 
produce,  and  different  from  the  uniform  method  of  nat- 
ural law. 

This  includes  special  interventions,  gracious  operations, 
revelations,  and,  specifically,  miracles. 

"Miracle,"  as  a  technical  word  connoting  a  special 
matter  in  controversy,  therefore  refers  only  to  a  class  of 
supernatural  events  alleged  to  have  occurred  in  connec- 
tion with  the  origin  of  the  Jewish  and  of  the  Christian 
religions,  which  are  recorded  in  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 


MIRACLES.  57 

merit  Scriptures  as  a  mode  of  divine  attestation  to  the 
divine  origin  of  these  religions. 

We  exclude,  therefore,  from  this  discussion — 

1.  All  spiritualistic  phenomena — ghost-flitting,  spirit- 
rapping,  demoniac  possession  or  other  manifestation  of 
merely  superhuman  power. 

2.  Extraordinary  providences,  as  the  draught  of  fishes 
and  the  flight  of  quails  mentioned  in  Scripture. 

3.  All  possible  special  intervention  and  modification 
of  the  ordinary  course  of  providence  in  the  spiritual 
education  of  souls. 

4.  All  the  gracious  acts  of  God  in  the  spiritual  sphere 
regenerating  and  sanctifying  the  souls  of  his  people. 

5.  His  supernatural  operations  in  the  minds  of  his 
prophets,  revealing  truth,  disclosing  future  events  and 
inspiring  them  as  public  teachers. 

The  "  miracle,"  therefore,  in  the  sense  in  which  we 
now  discuss  it,  should  be  defined  thus : 

(1)  An  event  (2)  occurring  in  the  material  world,  (3) 
obvious  to  the  senses,  (4)  of  such  a  nature  that  it  can  be 
rationally  referred  only  to  the  immediate  act  of  God  as 
its  direct  cause,  (5)  accompanying  a  teacher  of  religion 
sent  from  God,  (6)  and  designed  to  authenticate  his 
divine  commission. 

When  it  is  here  said  that  a  miracle  is  an  event  of  such 
a  nature  that  it  can  be  rationally  referred  only  to  an  im- 
mediate act  of  God  as  its  direct  cause,  it  is  not  meant 
that  God  is  the  only  cause  which  operates  in  producing 
it.  What  is  meant  is  that  the  direct  intentional  agency 
of  God  is  always  discerned  to  be  one  of  its  active  causes, 
and  that  one  which  gives  it  its  differentiating  character- 
istics as  a  miracle.     It  is  well  known  that  the  physical 


58  MIRACLES. 

cause  of  any  event  in  the  physical  world  is  never  single ; 
it  is  always  dual,  if  not  manifold.  All  the  necessary 
conditions  upon  which  the  event  depends  are  its  con- 
causes.  The  effect  consists  of  these  same  conditions 
modified.  If  we  kindle  a  fire,  the  con-causes  are  the 
fuel,  the  atmosphere,  the  flue,  the  match  and  the  agency 
of  the  person  combining  all  these  conditions.  The  effect 
is  the  change  brought  about  in  the  person,  the  match, 
the  flue,  the  air  and  the  fuel.  In  every  miracle  all  sur- 
rounding and  implicated  natural  bodies  remain  and  act 
throughout  the  miracle  in  a  manner  perfectly  true  to 
nature  under  the  peculiar  conditions  in  which  they  are 
placed.  But  God,  acting  invisibly  and  from  within,  in- 
terpolates a  new  force,  his  own  direct  energy,  into  the 
plexus  of  con-causes  naturally  in  operation,  and  the  re- 
sult is  the  miracle.  It  is  God  acting  from  without  and 
down  upon  and  in  nature.  When  the  iron  was  made  to 
float  in  the  water  (2  Kings  6  : 5),  earth,  air,  water  and 
iron  all  remained  acting  according  to  the  law  of  their 
nature  under  the  circumstances.  But  God  did  invisibly 
and  from  within  what  human  agency  in  this  case  might 
have  accomplished  visibly  and  from  without;  i.  e.  he 
simply  interpolated  a  force  acting  in  a  direction  contrary 
to  gravity,  and  equal  in  intensity  to  the  difference  of  the 
weight  of  the  iron  and  of  the  weight  of  au  equal  bulk 
of  water  which  it  displaced. 

It  is  obvious  that  upon  the  assumptions  of  the  deist, 
the  pantheist  or  the  atheist  or  materialist,  a  miracle 
would  be  absolutely  impossible.  In  this  discussion, 
therefore,  we  necessarily  assume  as  granted  (1)  that  there 
is  a  God ;  (2)  that  he  has  access  to  the  physical  world, 
and  can  act  upon  it  at  will ;  (3)  that  he  is  a  moral  Gov- 


MIRACLES.  59 

ernor ;  (4)  that  men  are  the  subjects  of  his  moral  gov- 
ernment, and  also  that  they  are  lost  sinners  in  need  of 
a  redemption ;  (5)  that  he  has  discovered  a  purpose  of 
intervening  redemptively  in  man's  behalf. 

II.  It  is  objected  by  skeptics  that  a  miracle  in  the 
sense  just  defined  is  an  impossible  event. 

1.  The  first  ground  upon  which  this  impossibility  is 
argued  is  that  such  an  event  would  involve  a  violation 
of  natural  law.  But  the  only  three  natural  laws  that 
science  has  established  as  absolutely  invariable  are — (1) 
All  substance  possesses  power :  every  substance  is  an 
active  cause,  and  acts  as  such  invariably  in  the  same 
way  under  the  same  conditions ;  (2)  all  causes  act  uni- 
formly under  uniform  conditions,  and  their  actions  al- 
ways change  as  their  conditions  change;  (3)  there  is 
throughout  all  nature  and  during  all  known  time  an 
absolutely  unbroken  continuity  of  causation :  there  is 
and  can  be  no  broken  link.  Either  in  the  material  or 
spiritual  world,  or  in  both  together,  the  causes  of  every 
event  are  to  be  found,  and  all  the  con-causes  immediately 
co-operate  in  producing  each  event.  If  by  law  of  na- 
ture be  meant  the  ordinary  sequence  of  natural  events 
occurring  under  ordinary  conditions,  then  it  is  admitted 
that  a  miracle  does  necessarily  violate  such  a  law ;  but  it 
is  denied  that  natural  law  in  this  sense  is  necessarily  uni- 
form and  immutable.  The  successions  of  day  and  night 
and  of  the  seasons  have  changed,  and  will  always  con- 
tinue to  change,  as  the  inclination  of  the  earth's  axis  to 
the  ecliptic  and  other  elements  of  the  problem  vary. 

But  in  every  other  sense  of  the  phrase  "law  of  na- 
ture" it  is  denied  that  the  miracle  violates  it.  It  does 
not  change  the  properties  or  powers  of  any  natural  sub- 


60  MIRACLES. 

stance.     It  does  not  annihilate  or  otherwise  change  any 
natural  force.     An  act  of  God  modifying  the  action  of 
natural  causes  no  more  interrupts  the  law  of  physical 
continuity  than  an  act  of  man  doing  the  same  thing. 
He  only  changes  the  conditions  under  which  the  entire 
plexus  of  natural  con-causes  acts.    In  all  man's  action  in 
this  world  he  uses  his  intelligence  to  bring  the  forces  of 
nature  into  artificial  combinations,  and  the  result  always 
is  at  the  same  time  (a)  natural,  (6)  yet  a  modified  nature, 
and   (c)   an   unquestionable   evidence   of   man's   direct 
agency.     The  electric  current  carrying  messages  through 
the  ocean  cable  is  as  much  an  exhibition  of  natural  law 
as  an  original  stroke  of  forked  lightning  from  the  sky. 
But,  in  addition  to  this,  it  is  moreover  an  immediate  and 
intentional  revelation  of  man.     The  same  is  true  of  the 
behavior  of  all  the  natural  forces  implicated  in  a  miracle, 
while  at  the  same  time  the  resultant  action  is  an  imme- 
diate and  intentional  revelation  of  God. 

This  is  fully  admitted  by  John  Stuart  Mill,  the  clear- 
est-minded of  the  agnostic  thinkers  of  this  century,  in  the 
fourth  part  of  his  Essay  on  Theism,  published  since  his 
death  by  his  step-daughter,  Helen  Taylor :  "  The  inter- 
ference of  the  human  will  with  the  course  of  nature  is 
only  not  an  exception  to  law  when  we  include  among 
laws  the  relation  of  motive  to  volition  :  by  the  same 
rule  interference  by  the  divine  will  would  not  be  an 
exception  either,  since  we  cannot  but  suppose  Deity,  in 
every  one  of  its  acts,  to  be  determined  by  motives."  .  .  . 
"It  is  true  that  human  volition  exercises  power  over 
objects  in  general  indirectly  through  the  direct  power  it 
possesses  over  human  muscles.  God,  however,  has  direct 
power,  not  merely  over  one  thing,  but  over  all  the  objects 


MIRACLES.  61 

he  has  made."  .  .  .  "Divine  interference  with  nature 
could  be  proved  if  we  had  the  same  sort  of  evidence  for 
it  that  we  have  for  human  interferences." 

2.  Skeptics  declare  miracles  to  be  impossible  because 
God  is  immutable,  eternally  perfect  in  wisdom  aud 
power,  and  therefore,  it  is  argued,  he  can  have  no  cause 
to  change  his  plan  or  to  modify  his  work.  The  machine 
invented  and  executed  by  man  proves  its  excellence  just 
in  proportion  as  it  is  able  to  run  on  in  its  appointed  way 
by  itself,  Avithout  any  need  of  repair  or  correction  at  the 
bauds  of  the  maker.  A  machine  that  needs  the  direct 
intervention  of  its  maker  discovers  thereby  some  defect 
either  in  his  calculations  or  in  his  skill  in  execution.  An 
absolutely  wise  and  omnipotent  God  should  have  made 
a  world  which  would  have  needed  no  intervention  for 
ever.  Theodore  Parker  said :  "  There  is  no  whim  in 
God,  and  therefore  no  miracle  in  nature." 

This  objection  is  absurdly  irrelevant.  The  miracle 
involves  no  change  in  God's  plan.  Each  miracle  was 
foreseen  and  predetermined  as  an  integral  part  of  his 
eternal,  all-comprehensive  plan  from  the  beginning. 
Neither  does  it  imply  any  defect  in  his  work.  No 
miracle  was  ever  designed  to  correct  or  regulate  the 
action  of  the  physical  world  (the  machine).  The  phys- 
ical world  is  controlled  by  forces  aud  their  interactions. 
The  moral  world  is  governed  by  ideas,  reasons,  motives, 
addressed  to  the  will,  and  by  discipline-forming  charac- 
ter. A  moral  system  involves  free  agency,  and  this 
independently  of  all  theory  as  to  its  nature.  The  fact 
of  personal  self-determination  cannot  be  doubted.  Free 
agency  involves  liability  to  sin.  Sin  as  an  actual  fact 
involves,  necessitates,  divine  intervention  either  to  pun- 


62  MIRACLES. 

ish  or  to  redeem.  Redemption  involves  the  stupendous 
miracles  of  the  incarnation  and  of  the  resurrection,  sus- 
ceptible, both  of  them,  of  demonstrative  proof,  and  all 
other  miracles  are  accompaniments  of  these.  The  phys- 
ical world  (the  machine)  is  not  an  end  in  itself.  It  is  the 
pedestal  upon  which  God  has  erected  his  moral  govern- 
ment, wherein  he  deals  with  a  society  of  personal  spirits. 
The  physical  world  is  the  house  in  which  the  heavenly 
Father  educates  his  children.  He  therefore  uses  the 
physical  system  as  an  instrument  through  which  he 
makes  "  signs  "  to  his  children.  The  conditions  of  this 
"  sign  "-making  is  (1)  the  invariability  of  natural  law; 
(2)  the  infrequent  and  temporary  interruption  revealing 
his  presence  and  purpose. 

We  admit  that  if  there  be  no  moral  system  of  which 
the  physical  system  of  the  world  is  only  the  foundation, 
there  can  be  no  miracle.  But  if  there  be  a  moral  sys- 
tem, in  which  the  moral  aud  spiritual  education  of  his 
children  is  the  chief  concern  of  our  heavenly  Father, 
miracles  are  not  incredible,  because  not  improbable. 

III.  It  is  asserted  by  skeptics  that  miracles  are  so 
violently  improbable  that  even  if  they  occurred,  that 
occurrence  could  not  be  proved  to  non-witnesses  by  any 
amount  of  human  testimony.  This  is  one  fallacy  under- 
lying the  famous  argument  of  David  Hume  against  the 
credibility  of  miracles.  We  all  would  willingly  agree 
to  this  principle  if  the  physical  universe  be  separated 
from  that  moral  system  in  which  God  is  educating  free 
personal  spirits.  In  the  physical  system  invariable  law 
everywhere  prevails.  Uniformity  of  sequence  is  the 
rule  in  the  experience  of  all  men  of  all  ages.  From 
their  very  nature  miracles  must  be  to  the  last  degree 


MIRACLES.  63 

exceptional.  If  they  were  frequent  or  if  they  could  be 
accounted  for  by  natural  causes  or  analogies,  they  would 
cease  to  be  miracles.  Their  frequent  or  sporadic  occur- 
rence would  reduce  the  phenomenal  world  to  chaos, 
would  confuse  the  reason  and  paralyze  the  activity  of 
man,  and  obscure  the  providence  of  God.  But  if  the 
fact  of  a  moral  government  is  admitted,  the  facts  of  man's 
moral  and  spiritual  condition  and  of  his  relation  to  God 
being  what  they  are  shown  to  be  by  natural  religion, 
then  a  direct  intervention  of  our  heavenly  Father  in 
behalf  of  his  bewildered  and  helpless  children  is  in  the 
highest  degree  probable.  If  God  directly  intervenes  to 
instruct  and  educate  his  children,  revelations  and  mira- 
cles must  co-operate  in  that  work.  Each  prophet  sent 
to  speak  for  God  must  be  authenticated.  Men  sent 
bearing  supernatural  messages  will  reasonably  be  ex- 
pected to  possess  supernatural  characteristics  and  to  be 
accompanied  with  supernatural  phenomena.  A  detached, 
objectless  miracle  would  indeed  be  unprovable.  But  a 
system  of  miracles  mutually  supporting  one  another,  like 
those  recorded  in  the  Christian  Scriptures,  evidently 
bearing  a  divine  redemptive  character,  and  all  consti- 
tuting parts  of  one  redemptive  scheme,  all  issuing  from 
one  source  and  bearing  upon  one  end,  and  associated 
with  persons  bearing  the  aspect  of  celestial  messengers, 
teaching  a  spiritual  doctrine  self-evidencing  itself  as  the 
word  of  God, — such  a  system  of  miracles  so  supported 
becomes  in  the  highest  degree  probable,  and  hence  is  to 
be  received  as  true  when  supported  by  competent  his- 
torical evidence. 

IV.  It  is  objected  by  skeptics  that  miracles,  as  above 
defined,  even  if  they  actually  occurred,  could  not  be  cer- 


64  MIRACLES. 

tainly  discriminated  and  recognized  by  us  to  be  truly 
what  they  appear  to  be. 

1.  This  is  argued  from  the  acknowledged  fact  that  our 
knowledge  of  the  powers  and  laws  of  nature  are  very 
limited,  and  therefore  we  are  never  competent,  in  view 
of  any  wonderful  phenomenon  transcending  all  past 
recorded  experience,  to  say  peremptorily  that  it  trans- 
cends nature  and  must  have  been  caused  by  the  direct 
action  of  God.  This  is  true  in  part,  but  irrelevant. 
The  question  does  not  relate  to  the  possible  achievements 
of  science  in  the  future,  but  to  what  was  done  through 
the  agency  of  religious  teachers  iu  an  obscure  province 
of  the  Roman  empire  two  thousand  years  ago.  Be- 
sides, science  secures  its  wonderful  results  by  means  of 
apparatus,  by  means  of  elaborately  adjusted  conditions, 
and  never  in  any  other  way.  But  the  miracle  was  al- 
ways the  response  to  a  simple  command  in  the  name  of 
God  or  of  Christ.  Besides  all  this,  science  has  effect- 
ually shut  some  doors  while  it  has  opened  many  others. 
It  is  now  scientifically  certain  that  a  man  four  days  dead 
in  a  hot  climate  cannot  be  brought  back  to  life  by  nat- 
ural forces  alone.  If  the  events  in  question  actually 
occurred,  then  it  is  scientifically  certain  that  they  reveal 
the  "  finger  of  God." 

2.  Skeptics  argue  that  miracles,  even  if  they  occurred, 
could  not  be  certainly  recognized  as  such,  because  the 
phenomenon,  although  obviously  transcending  natural 
physical  law,  may,  for  aught  we  can  tell,  be  produced 
by  some  unknown  superhuman  agency ;  as,  for  instance, 
by  the  devil  or  by  his  angels.  This  might  be  true  so 
far  as  the  isolated  fact  as  a  physical  event  goes,  although 
we  have  no  evidence  that  finite  spirits  of  any  kind  have 


MIRACLES.  65 

power  of  life  or  death  over  men.  But  the  objection  is 
wholly  irrelevant.  The  miracles  were  professed  "signs" 
of  divine  revelation  and  commission.  Good  spirits 
would  not  conspire  to  counterfeit  God  and  deceive  men  ; 
evil  spirits  could  not,  and  would  not  be  allowed  to  do  so 
if  they  could.  The  prophet,  his  character,  the  doctrine 
and  the  miracle  make  one  congruous  whole,  which  in  all 
its  parts  equally  bears  the  unmistakable  and  uncounter- 
feitable  sign-manual  of  God.  Evil  spirits  could  not 
conspire  to  build  up  the'  kingdom  of  God  (Matt 
12  :  25). 

3.  It  is  again  argued  against  the  credibility  of  mira- 
cles, that  of  the  alleged  phenomena  we  have  only  popular 
reports,  and  no  evidence  of  their  having  been  submitted 
to  any  adequate  scientific  test.     We  acknowledge  that 
the  mass  of  people  were  then,  as  they  are  now,  credulous 
and  inaccurate  observers.     But  in  the  case  of  the  most 
important  miracles  recorded  the  tests  to  which  the  phe- 
nomena were  subjected  were  all-sufficient.     The  whole 
problem  as  to  the  resurrection  either  of  Lazarus  or  of 
Christ  or  of  the  son  of  the  widow  of  Nain  is  embraced 
in  two  definite  and  easily-ascertained  facts.     They  were 
really  dead,  and  subsequently  they  were   really  alive 
again  in  the  same  bodies.     That  Christ  was  really  dead 
on  Friday  the  entire  educated  world,  skeptical  and  be- 
lieving, agree  to  be  an  ascertained  historical  fact.     The 
fact  that  he  was  really  alive  again  on  Sunday  and  after- 
ward was  tested  in  the  strictest  sense  scientifically,  and 
especially  by  the  apostle  Thomas.     The  disciples  used 
one  sense  to  criticise  and  confirm  the  report  of  another. 
They  saw,   heard  and  handled  him,   and   thrust   their 
"hands  into  the  print  of  the  spear."     Many  different 


66  MIRACLES. 

persons  saw,  heard  and  handled  him  in  many  different 
lights  and  in  various  situations  through  a  space  of  six 
weeks.  These  persons  were  not  deceived.  They  were 
intelligent  and  sober-minded  men,  as  evidenced  by  all 
they  did  and  wrote.  They  could  not  have  conspired  to 
deceive  us.  They  consecrated  their  lives  thenceforth  "to 
preach  Jesus  and  the  resurrection."  As  conscious  wit- 
nesses they  were  true,  for  they  sealed  their  testimony  as 
martyrs.  As  unconscious  witnesses  they  could  not  de- 
ceive, for  their  unique  experience  transformed  their  char- 
acters and  lives  from  being  Galilean  fishermen  to  being 
world-compelling  apostles. 

V.  It  is  objected  that  the  proof  of  which  moral  and 
spiritual  truths  are  susceptible  is  their  own  inherent  self- 
evidencing  light ;  that  they  are  only  worthily  recognized 
when  they  are  seen  and  felt  to  be  truth  in  their  own 
light ;  that  miracles,  consequently,  even  if  real,  are  use- 
less as  evidences  of  divine  revelation,  since  moral  and 
spiritual  truth  cannot  be  established  by  any  correlation 
with  physical  phenomena ;  that  the  truth  of  a  truth  can 
never  be  established  by  the  effects  of  even  an  infinite 
physical  force. 

But  the  gospel  is  not  a  disclosure  of  abstract  moral  or 
spiritual  truths,  but  rather  of  a  series  of  objective  facts 
constituting  the  stupendous  history  of  redemption.  It 
is  the  history  of  God  sending  his  own  Son  in  the  like- 
ness of  sinful  flesh  to  condemn  sin  in  the  flesh,  and  after- 
ward sending  his  Holy  Spirit  to  apply  and  complete  the 
work.  No  possible  quickening  of  our  intuitive  con- 
sciousness would  disclose  these  matters  of  historical  fact. 
No  self-evidence  establishes  them  as  historical  realities 
except  the  evidence  which  history  renders.     And  among 


MIRACLES.  67 

the  most  convincing  elements  of  this  history  is  the  wit- 
ness it  bears  to  the  events  we  call  "  miracles."  The  in- 
carnation, the  crucifixion,  the  resurrection,  are  the  very 
substance  of  Christianity  and  its  saving  power;  the  first 
and  third  of  these  are  the  central  suns  of  the  constella- 
tions of  miracles  recorded  in  the  Bible.  It  is  conceded 
that  sporadic,  inconsequent  miracles  could  prove  nothing, 
and  would  themselves  be  difficult  to  prove.  But  given 
a  supernatural  crisis,  a  supernatural  teacher  and  a  super- 
natural doctrine,  miracles  are  found  to  be  in  place  like 
jewels  on  the  state  robes  of  a  king.  All  the  great  mira- 
cles recorded  in  Scripture  gather  around  two  great  foci 
in  the  history  of  redemption :  the  giving  of  the  law 
through  Moses  and  the  life  and  death  of  the  incarnate 
God.  Miracles  in  such  connectious  are  inevitable,  and  in 
the  highest  sense  congruous.  Their  absence  would  have 
been  unaccountable. 

Besides  this,  the  miracle,  when  found  in  this  its  nor- 
mal relation  to  the  character  of  the  genuine  prophet  and 
to  the  nature  of  the  genuine  revelation,  adds  its  own 
specific  and  indispensable  quota  of  evidence.  The  mira- 
cle (the  "  sign  ")  is  the  seal  of  God.  A  seal  detached  or 
attached  accidentally  to  a  rag  or  fraudulently  to  a  fiction 
has  no  legal  value.  Even  a  true  document  in  many 
cases  has  only  an  incomplete  value  in  the  absence  of  the 
seal.  But  when  the  true  seal  is  attached  to  the  true 
document,  the  evidence  is  impregnable.  The  prophet, 
the  message  and  the  miracle  mutually  authenticate  one 
another.  Separate,  neither  could  be  believed  with  con- 
fidence ;  together,  neither  can  be  doubted.  Faith  is  the 
highest  reason,  and  therefore  the  most  obligatory  duty, 
while  unbelief  is  alike  irrational  and  sinful. 


LECTURE    IV. 

THE  HOLY  SCRIPTURES-THE  CANON  AND  INSPIRA- 


TION. 


I    I  am  to  speak  this  afternoon  of  the  Bible,  its 
genesis  and  its  inspiration.     The  word  "Bible"  means 
book,  the  word  "Scripture"  means  writing,  and  it  is  by 
the  common  consent  of  men  that  these  words  are  applied 
to  this  one  subject,  because  it  is  a  Book  of  books,  and 
because,  beyond  all  comparison,  it  is  the  Writing  of 
writings.     It  is  the  most  important  of  all  books,  because, 
as  a  matter  of  historical  fact,  this  book,  more  than  any 
other  force,  has  moulded  the  character  of  the  great  na- 
tions of  the  world  and  given  birth  to  what  we  call  the 
modern  or  Western   civilization;   because  all   historic 
churches,  with  one  accord,  declare  it  to  be  the  founda- 
tion of  their  creeds-declare  that  this  book  is  the  Word 
of  God ;  because,  in  spite  of  all  our  divisions,  the  whole 
Church  really  accepts  this  book  as  the  only  infallible  and 
divinely  authoritative  rule  of  our  faith  and  practice ;  and 
because  it  is,  between  all  Christians,  the  standard  of  ap- 
peal on  all  subjects  of  debate,  the  only  common  ground 
upon  which  we  stand,  the  only  court  of  last  resort. 

II  On  what  presuppositions  does  our  doctrine  rest . 
In  every  problem  there  are  two  elements— the  a  priori 
element  of  principle  and  the  a  posteriori  element  of  fact. 
To  this  there  is  no  exception  in  any  of  the  problems  of 
philosophy  or  of  science  or  of  theology.     The  a  prion 


THE  HOLY  SCRIPTURES.  69 

question  of  principle  must  be  taken  first,  and  will  con- 
dition the  whole  argument.  We  must,  before  we  take 
up  the  subject  of  the  Bible,  first  take  up  the  questions,  Is 
there  a  God?  Does  he  exist?  What  relation  does  he 
sustain  to  the  universe  ?  Can  he  reveal  himself  to  man  ? 
Has  he  made  a  revelation  of  himself  to  man  ?  Are  men 
capable  of  receiviug  a  divine  revelation  through  the 
means  of  a  book  ? 

Now,  it  is  held,  on  the  basis  of  all  the  presuppositions 
of  Atheism,  of  Materialism,  of  Agnosticism,  and  even 
of  the  old  Deism,  that  it  is  absolutely  absurd  to  talk  of 
any  supernatural  revelation  of  God,  or  of  any  Bible  as 
either  containing  or  being  the  Word  of  God.     I  want, 
however,  to  assure  the   laymen  who  have  not  investi- 
gated these  questions  that  nine-tenths  of  all  the  objections 
which  men  are  making  now  to  the  Scriptures,  in  which 
they  claim  that  the  progress  of  knowledge,  the  progress 
of  civilization,  the  progress  of  science,  the  progress  of 
critical   investigation,  the  vast  aggregate  of  historical 
knowledge,  all  are  sweeping  away  the  foundations  of  our 
ancient  faith  in  the  Bible,-!  wish  to  assure  them  that 
these  objections  are  not  only  untrue,  but  absurd.    Those 
that  are   made  are   not   founded   upon   facts,   but   are 
founded  upon  a  priori  philosophical  principles.    Neither 
science  nor  history  nor   criticism   bears  any  testimony 
against  the  divine  origin  of  the  Bible.     I  appeal  with 
confidence  to  the  a  priori  principles  of  a  contrary  phi- 
losophy.    We  must   meet  them  on  their  own   ground, 
and  appeal  from  the  postulates  of  a  false  philosophy  to 
the  postulates  of  a  true.     We  have  as  much  right  to  be- 
lieve our  philosophy  as  they  have  to  believe  theirs.    Re- 
nan,  for  instance,  begins  his  discussion  upon  the  Epistles 


70  THE  HOLY  SCRIPTURES— 

with  this  assumption  :  "The  supernatural  is  impossible;" 
therefore  the  supernatural  is  unhistorical,  and  therefore 
any  piece  of  literature  that  claims  to  convey  to  us  super- 
natural information  must  so  far  forth  be  incorrect  and  be 
the  subject  of  correction  by  critical  hands. 

You  see  that  this  is  a  mere  assumption,  and  the  whole 
principle  on  which  it  rests  is  that  which  underlies  the 
philosophy,  atheistic,  materialistic,  agnostic  or  deistic,  of 
these  errorists;  and  if  this  be  swept  away  not  only  all 
the  foundations  for  such  a  claim,  but  all  color  of  pre- 
sumption on  which  it  rests,  is  swept  away  at  once. 
Doubtless  there  are  very  many  men  of  great  ability  who 
are  perfectly  honest  who  hold  to  this  belief.  They  are 
thoroughly  convinced  of  the  principles  of  their  a  priori 
philosophy,  and  these  principles  are  evidently  inconsist- 
ent with  the  truths  of  Christianity. 

But  if  we  discard  the  unproved  assumptions,  we  in- 
validate their  conclusions.  There  are  others  who  ought 
to  be  treated  kindly  :  they  are  thoroughly  convinced,  but 
they  are  half-educated,  timid  souls  who  are  confused  in 
this  babel  of  tongues,  and  who  do  not  know  the  deceit- 
fulness  of  materialistic  belief— who  are  inclined  to  be- 
lieve in  the  ancient  faith,  but  are  also  under  pressure 
from  the  arrogant  claims  of  philosophy.  For  such  have 
great  consideration,  and  instead  of  repelling  them  by 
words  draw  them  to  you  by  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  and 
by  showing  that  you  not  only  believe  intellectually,  but 
that  you  have  a  ground  of  assurance  in  your  inward 
experience,  in  the  testimony  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  which 
must  excite  respect  and  confidence  in  them. 

Now,  in  beginning  this  argument  I  wish  to  claim, 
first,  the  truth  of  all  that  I  have  said  in  the  three  pre- 


THE  CANON  AND  INSPIRATION.  71 

ceding  lectures.  You  see,  therefore,  the  logical  reason 
for  the  order  I  adopted.  I  claim,  as  preliminary  to  the 
discussion  of  the  doctrine  of  holy  Scripture,  the  truths 
of  the  principles  already  established :  to  wit,  there  is  a 
God  ;  this  God  possesses  the  attributes  of  omnipresence, 
omnipotence,  infinitude,  etc. ;  he  is  everywhere  present ; 
immanent  in  all  things  at  all  times ;  working  continu- 
ously and  universally  through  all  things  from  within. 
He  is  also  transcendent  and  extra-mundane,  acting  upon 
the  world  from  without  on  such  points  and  at  such  times 
as  lie  wills.  The  whole  order  of  providence  and  of 
moral  government,  whether  natural,  supernatural  or 
gracious,  is  presupposed  in  this  argument. 

If  a  man  does  not  believe  in  God  as  omnipresent  and 
as  active  in  all  his  creatures,  if  he  does  not  believe  that 
man  is  a  free  moral  agent  under  the  moral  government 
of  God,  who  is  a  holy,  just  and  benevolent  Ruler,  then 
this  lecture  is  not  intended  for  him.  But  if  a  man  does 
so  believe  we  challenge  him  to  present  objections  to  the 
catholic  doctrine  of  the  Word  of  God  which  will  be  at 
the  same  time  rational  and  consistent  with  Christian 
Theism. 

III.  How  do  we  Ascertain  the  Constitue?it  Parts  of 
Scripture? — i.  e.  how  do  we  (1)  ascertain  the  several 
books  which  make  up  the  canon?  and  (2)  how  do  we  as- 
certain the  words  which  make  up  the  correct  text  of 
those  books  ?  I  can  of  course  attempt  only  a  very  bare 
sketch  of  what  should  be  the  full  and  critically-learned 
answer  to  these  questions.  You  all  fully  understand 
that  they  fall  outside  of  the  particular  department  of 
study  to  which  my  life  has  been  devoted.  The  amount 
of  the  highest  talent  and  learning  consecrated  within  the 


72  THE  HOLY  SCRIPTURES— 

Christian  Church  to  the  defence  and  elucidation  of  the 
sacred  Scriptures  would  infinitely  surprise  the  cheap  and 
shallow  critics  who  are  vociferously  claiming  that  its 
pretensions  have  been  disproved.  They  should  remem- 
ber that  a  few  frogs  in  a  swamp  make  incomparably  more 
noise  than  all  the  herds  of  cattle  browsing  upon  a  hun- 
dred hills.  Yet  none  are  deceived,  except  the  frogs 
themselves.  In  Princeton  Theological  Seminary  the 
study  of  the  subjects  embraced  within  this  single  lecture 
consume  the  larger  part  of  three  years  of  study  and  the 
entire  attention  of  four  learned  and  able  professors. 

(A.)  1.  How  do  we  Ascertain  what  Books  Constitute  the 
Canon  of  the  Old  Testament  f  The  New  Testament  came 
into  existence  in  an  age  in  which  a  contemporaneous  lit- 
erature existed  thoroughly  illuminated  by  the  light  of 
history.  But  the  Old  Testament  contains  the  very  old- 
est extant  literature  of  the  world.  It  inaugurates  human 
history,  and  therefore  cannot,  in  its  earliest  contents,  be 
verified  by  contemporaneous  testimonies.  It  is  only  in 
its  later  periods  that  it  receives  confirmation  unquestion- 
able from  the  monuments  of  Egypt  and  the  cylinders  of 
Assyria. 

Nevertheless,  we  are  certain  that  we  have  the  very 
same  canon  which  Christ  recognized  when  he  said  to  his 
disciples,  and  through  them  to  us,  "  Search  the  Script- 
ures; ....  they  are  they  which  testify  of  me."  The  very 
books  which  we  have  now  are  the  very  books  to  which 
Christ  appealed.  He  cited  them  (1)  by  their  classes,  as 
"  the  Law,"  "  the  Law  and  the  Prophets ;"  and  (2)  he 
quoted  the  writings  severally,  and  attributed  them  to 
their  respective  authors — as  to  Moses,  to  David  and  to 
Esaias.     The   same  was   done  by  the   inspired  writers 


THE  CANON  AND  INSPIRATION.  73 

of  the  New  Testament.  That  the  canon  endorsed  by- 
Christ  is  the  very  canon  we  now  possess  we  know  to  our 
absolute  certainty;  by  the  Septuagint  translation  made 
nearly  three  hundred  years  before  Christ,  by  the  Hebrew 
Bible  jealously  guarded  by  the  Jews  from  the  earliest 
ages  to  the  present  time,  from  the  testimony  of  Philo 
and  of  Josephus,  the  great  Jewish  writers  of  the  first 
Christian  century,  and  from  the  earliest  Latin  and 
Syriac  translations. 

As  to  this  point,  indeed,  there  is  no  controversy.  The 
simple  question  remains,  which  to  real  Christians  is  no 
question,  whether  the  testimony  of  Christ  our  Lord  is 
sufficient  to  establish  the  fact. 

2.  How  do  we  Ascertain  the  True  Text  of  the  Several 
Books  which  Constitute  this  Canon  f  Our  reliance  here 
also  is  upon  the  guarantee  of  Christ.  We  are  sure  that 
we  possess  the  Masoretic  text  which  was  collected  and 
recorded  by  the  Masorets  from  the  fifth  century  on- 
ward. These  were  great  Jewish  scholars,  who  searched 
all  manuscripts  open  to  them,  not  to  form  a  new  text, 
but  to  ascertain  the  true  text  in  the  material  that  had 
descended  to  them.  The  Targums  and  the  Talmud  also 
make  it  certain  that  the  text  we  now  have  is  essentially 
the  identical  text  which  Christ  had,  and  which  he  vir- 
tually guarantees  to  us.  The  same  fact  is  proved  to  us 
by  the  Septuagint  Greek  version  before  referred  to,  and 
by  the  Peshito,  the  old  Syriac  version  made  at  the  end 
of  the  second  century.  The  Septuagint,  the  Hebrew 
Bible,  the  Syriac  Version,  the  Vulgate,  the  Masoretic 
notes  must  embody  the  text  as  it  existed  in  the  time  of 
Christ.  The  agreement  of  all  the  various  sources  of  in- 
formation is  so  close  that  the  greatest  differences  they 


74  THE  HOLY  SCBIPTUBES^ 

suggest  would  not  change  a  single  doctrine  nor  cast 
doubt  upon  a  single  historic  fact  of  any  importance.  I 
am  justified,  therefore,  in  affirming  that  we  stand  pos- 
sessed to-day  of  the  very  same  Old-Testament  Scriptures 
to  which  Christ  appealed  and  to  which  his  authority 
binds  our  obedience  and  our  faith. 

In  these  days  you  hear  much  of  the  ravages  which  a 
learned  criticism  has  made  in  the  integrity  of  our  tradi- 
tional Scriptures,  and  thus  in  the  historical  foundations 
of  our  faith.  Ordinary  historical  criticism  is  a  perfectly 
legitimate  and  necessary  process  by  which  all  the  light, 
external  and  internal,  afforded  by  history,  literature  and 
the  intrinsic  characteristics  of  the  books  or  texts  in  ques- 
tion is  collected,  and  we  judge  by  means  of  all  the  best 
evidence  we  have  what  conclusions  we  are  to  draw  in 
reference  to  their  genuineness  and  their  integrity,  or  the 
reverse.  But  there  is  an  arrogant  phase  of  the  "  Higher 
Criticism "  that  is  far  more  ambitious,  and  attempts  to 
correct,  or  even  to  reconstruct,  the  existing  text  by  wide 
inductions  from  the  history  of  the  times,  from  the  other 
writings  and  from  the  known  or  supposed  character, 
knowledge,  style,  situation  or  subject  of  the  writer.  The 
whole  historical  situation  is  vividly  conceived  by  the 
Critic  of  this  school,  and  he  proceeds  to  infer  therefrom 
what  the  writer  must  have  said  or  could  not  have  said. 
It  is  admitted  that  in  some  cases  and  within  narrow 
limits  such  a  process  may  be  legitimate.  When  there  is 
conflict  or  indefiniteness  in  the  evidence  afforded  by  di- 
rect explicit  historical  data  of  manuscript  or  version,  it 
may  be  well  to  go  farther  afield  for  collateral  or  for  in- 
ferential evidence.  But  it  is  very  plain  that  this  process 
of  "  Higher  Criticism  "  is  liable  to  be  colored,  and  even 


THE  CANON  AND  INSPIRATION.  75 

wholly  controlled,  by  the  subjective  conditions  of  the 
critic — by  his  sympathies,  by  his  historical  and  philo- 
sophical and  religious  theories,  and  by  his  a  priori  judg- 
ments as  to  what  the  sacred  writer  ought  to  say.  It  is 
also  very  plain  that  the  conclusions  of  this  Criticism  are 
of  no  value  whatever  when  opposed  to  clearly-ascertained 
historical  facts  or  documentary  evidence. 

In  the  case  of  Criticism  applied  to  the  Old  or  New 
Testament  Scriptures  in  a  spirit  hostile  to  the  long-re- 
ceived faith  of  the  Christian  Church,  it  is  notorious  that 
it  is  the  outgrowth  of  a  false  philosophy,  of  naturalistic 
views  of  God's  relation  to  the  world,  and  of  a  priori 
-theories  of  evolution  applied  to  history.  Throughout, 
its  representatives  are  alien  from  evangelical  sympathy 
and  effort.  When  we  remember,  therefore,  what  can  be 
clearly  proved  by  historic  fact  and  document,  that  Christ 
endorsed  as  the  Word  of  God  the  very  Old  Testament 
Scripture,  book  and  text,  which  we  now  possess,  when 
we  remember  that  all  the  evidence  attainable  from 
Egyptian  monuments  and  Assyrian  cylinders  corrobo- 
rates the  claims  of  this  Hebrew  Bible  in  all  its  parts, 
it  is  very  evident  that  the  conceited  claims  of  this  Criti- 
cism are  as  profane  as  they  are  groundless  and  absurd. 
Let  each  man  choose  for  himself  this  day  between  Jesus 
Christ  and  the  "  critics." 

(B.)  1.  How  do  we  Ascertain  what  Boohs  of  Right  be- 
long to  the  New  Testament  Canon  f  Here  the  case  is  dif- 
ferent. Christ  did  not  present  us  the  collected  books 
of  the  New  Testament  and  guarantee  their  integrity. 
On  the  other  hand,  these  books  were  written  in  the 
full  light  of  an  historically  illuminated  age,  and  come 
to  us  supported  by  a  contemporaneous  literature  and 


76  THE  HOLY  SCRIPTURES— 

followed  by  a  copious  consequent  literature  of  their  own 
creating. 

The  rule  by  which  the  canonicity  of  any  New  Testa- 
ment book  is  determined  is :  any  book  written  by  an 
apostle  or  received  generally  as  canonical  by  the  Church 
during  the  age  in  which  it  was  presided  over  and  in- 
structed by  the  apostles  is  to  be  regarded  as  canonical. 
Take,  for  instance,  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews.  If 
written  by  Paul,  then  it  would  have  a  right  to  a  place  in 
the  canon  for  that  reason.  But  if  not  written  by  Paul, 
if  it  was  received  generally  as  canonical  by  the  Church 
during  the  lives  of  Paul  and  John,  then  its  right  must 
be  admitted  on  that  ground. 

Of  course,  the  facts  in  question  must  be  determined  by 
an  examination  of  two  classes  of  evidence :  (1)  the  in- 
ternal character  of  the  writing ;  (2)  the  external  historical 
evidence  of  its  genuineness  and  of  its  recognition  as 
canonical  by  the  Church  of  the  first  century.  Of  course, 
no  external  evidence  can  prove  a  book  to  have  come  from 
God  if  its  contents  are  morally  bad  or  intellectually  con- 
temptible. Nevertheless,  no  matter  what  the  contents  of 
a  book  may  be,  we  cannot  admit  that  it  belongs  to  the 
New  Testament  canon  except  on  the  ground  of  explicit 
and  sufficient  historical  proof. 

The  kind  of  evidence  by  which  we  establish  the  canon- 
icity of  each  of  the  books  of  the  New  Testament  is  pre- 
cisely the  same  as  that  by  which  we  prove  the  authen- 
ticity and  genuineness  of  any  ancient  classic.  The  only 
difference  is  that  in  behalf  of  the  books  of  the  New 
Testament  the  evidence  is  incomparably  more  abundant. 
This  evidence  may  be  distributed  under  the  following 
heads,  each  head  representing  copious  literatures  critic- 


THE  CANON  AND  INSPIRATION.  77 

ally  sifted  and  logically  arranged:  (1)  quotations  and 
references  to  these  books  found  in  the  writings  of  early 
Christians ;  (2)  early  catalogues  of  the  sacred  books  ;  (3) 
early  translations ;  (4)  general  verdict  of  the  Church ; 
(5)  internal  characteristics. 

You  hear  a  great  deal  to-day  about  the  "  Christian 
consciousness."  The  new  critics,  having  destroyed  the 
ancient  historical  foundations  of  our  Scriptures  and  of 
our  faith,  wish  now  to  build  them  up  again  upon  a  basis 
of  Christian  consciousness.  Every  book  and  every  spe- 
cific reading  is  to  be  received  which  is  approved  by  the 
subjective  tests,  literary,  scientific,  aesthetic,  religious  and 
fantastic,  of  these  self-appointed  Scripture-tasters  of  the 
nineteenth  century.  We  also  believe  in  a  Christian  con- 
sciousness— that  is,  in  a  human  consciousness  modified 
by  religious  experience  and  the  indwelling  of  the  Holy 
Ghost.  But  the  mouth-piece  of  that  consciousness  is  no 
self-appointed,  self-conscious  group  of  cultured  moderns. 
It  is  voiced  only  by  the  consensus  of  all  Christians  of 
all  nations,  all  ecclesiastical  folds  and  ages.  These  very 
critics  deny  the  growth  of  the  whole  Church  since  St. 
Augustine  because  its  uniform  testimonies  rebuke  them. 
We,  on  the  contrary,  appeal  from  the  self-elected  repre- 
sentatives of  "Christian  consciousness"  to  the  thing 
itself — to  the  consensus  of  the  whole  Church,  ancient, 
mediaeval  and  modern,  Greek,  Roman,  Lutheran  and 
Reformed.  We  appeal  to  the  historic  and  abiding  creeds, 
confessions,  hymns  and  liturgies  of  all  Christians.  We 
appeal  to  the  testimony  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  to  the  wit- 
ness of  all  saints  and  martyrs,  to  all  reformations,  re- 
vivals and  missions  since  Pentecost. 

The  progress  of  this  controversy  has  been  one  un- 


78  THE  HOLY  SCRIPTURES— 

broken  march  of  triumph  for  the  integrity  of  our  tra- 
ditional canon.     The  first  destructive  "critics"  denied 
the  authenticity  and  historic  validity  of  the  fourth  Gos- 
pel and  the  originality  and   accuracy  of  the   synoptic 
Gospels,  and   they  admitted   the   genuineness   of  only 
four  books— Romans,  First  and  Second  Corinthians  and 
Galatians.    These  are  admitted  to  have  been  the  genuine 
writings  of  the  apostle  Paul  by  the  general  consent  of 
the  most  destructive  critics  and  of  all  branches  and  ages 
of  the  Christian  Church.     This  admission  alone  defeats 
the  enemy  and  establishes  upon  this  rock  of  unquestion- 
able historic  fact  the  whole  gospel  system.     The  entire 
body  of  Christian  doctrine  can  be  shown  to  be  taught  in 
these  four  admitted  original  Christian  documents,  the 
entire  person,  office  and  work  of  Christ;  the  entire  sal- 
vation, temporal  and  eternal,  of  his  believing  followers. 
Since  that  time  the  originality  and  validity  of  the  syn- 
optical Gospels  have  been  victoriously  vindicated.     The 
genuineness  of  the  fourth  Gospel  has  been  established 
beyond  question,  as  is  nobly  admitted  and  maintained 
by  the  late  Dr.  Ezra  Abbot,  one  of  the  most  learned 
Unitarians  America  has  ever  produced. 

2.  How  do  we  Ascertain  the  True  Text  of  the  Several 
Books  of  the  New  Testament  f  You  can  easily  under- 
stand that  through  the  process  of  multiplying  manu- 
scripts by  hand,  which  is  laborious  and  involves  an  in- 
finitude of  independent  details,  an  untold  number  of 
variations  would  creep  into  the  text. 

The  textus  receptus  was  formed  in  the  age  of  the 
Reformation  by  a  hasty  and  uncritical  gathering  and 
comparison  of  the  manuscripts  which  were  found  lying 
ready  to  hand,  without  respect  to  their  various  age  or 


THE  CANON  AND  INSPIRATION.  79 

authority.  Cardinal  Ximenes,  in  Complutum,  Spain, 
printed  the  first  edition,  a.  d.  1514,  which,  however, 
was  not  published  till  1520  or  1521.  The  next  edition 
was  issued  by  Erasmus  from  Bale,  1516,  with  succeeding 
editions  of  1519,  1522,  1527,  1535;  then  that  of  Ste- 
phanus,  from  Paris,  1546;  then  that  of  Beza,  from 
Geneva,  1565.  Finally,  the  second  Elzevir  edition  of 
1633,  Leyden,  which  claimed  to  give  the  textus  receptus, 
was  generally  so  received,  and  gave  currency  to  that  title. 
The  text  thus  formed  was  the  basis  of  the  English  ver- 
sion of  King  James  and  of  all  the  New  Testaments  of 
all  languages  in  modern  times. 

But  during  the  present  century  the  text  of  the  New 
Testament  has  been  carefully  studied,  a  far  wider  collec- 
tion of  manuscripts  has  been  gathered,  the  more  ancient 
and  valuable  manuscripts  have  been  made  the  basis  of  a 
corrected  text,  and  a  text  nearly  approximating  to  the 
original  autographs  of  the  sacred  writers  has  been  arrived 
at  by  a  process  of  critical  comparison  and  judgment  of 
the  immense  material  collected. 

This  is  gathered— (1)  From  ancient  manuscripts:  e.g. 
the  Codex  Alexandrinus  in  the  British  Museum,  dating 
from  the  beginning  of  the  fifth  century,  from  400  to 
450  after  the  birth  of  Christ ;  the  Codex  Vaticanus, 
dating  from  some  time  in  the  fourth  century ;  the  Codex 
Sinaiticus,  believed  by  Tischendorf  to  be  one  of  the  fifty 
copies  prepared  by  the  order  of  Constantine  by  Eusebius, 
a.  d.  331.  (2)  From  the  numerous  quotations  from  the 
New  Testament  writings  found  in  the  works  of  the  early- 
Fathers.  (3)  From  the  early  translations,  such  as  the 
Peshito,  or  early  Syriac,  latter  part  of  the  second  cen- 
tury ;  the  Latin  Vulgate  of  Jerome,  A.  d.  385 ;  the  Cop- 


80  THE  HOLY  SCRIPTURES— 

tic,  from  the  third  century.  From  all  these  sources  the 
new  critical  editions  of  the  New  Testament  Greek  text 
have  been  derived.  The  best  of  these  in  their  order 
have  been  those  of  Griesbach,  who  died  1812;  Lach- 
mann,  who  died  1851 ;  Tischendorf,  who  died  1874 ; 
and  of  Westcott  and  Hort,  which  was  made  the  basis 
of  the  New  Revision  in  1880. 

This  much  has  been  settled  upon  definite  and  sufficient 
historical  evidence  critically  sifted.  The  testimony  es- 
tablishes the  fact  that  these  New  Testament  books  con- 
stitute the  second  division  of  God's  Word,  and  that  the 
text  in  our  possession  is  incomparably  more  accurate  and 
more  certain  than  that  which  is  possessed  of  any  other 
ancient  book  in  the  world.  God  has  taken  such  care  of 
his  own  Word  that  the  differences  which  you  may  ob- 
serve between  the  Revised  Version  and  the  Old  Version 
of  the  Scriptures  are  such  as  do  not  involve  the  stability 
of  a  single  important  historic  fact  or  of  a  single  article 
of  faith.  We  are  brought  by  this  process  not  only  to 
the  substance,  but  to  the  form  and  shading,  of  the  truth 
as  it  came  from  the  original  organs  of  revelation.  We 
can  almost  recognize  the  tone  and  inflection  of  the  voice 
of  Christ  himself. 

IV.  Our  fourth  question  is,  Sow  ivas  the  Bible,  this 
Booh  of  books,  produced  f  What  ivas  the  true  genesis  of 
these  Scriptures  f  Written  evidently  by  men,  how  did  they 
become  the  Word  of  God  ? 

There  are  three  distinct  ways  in  which  we  can  conceive 
that  God  might  produce  a  book  to  be  read  by  man  :  (1.) 
He  could  have  produced  it  by  his  own  immediate  energy, 
acting  directly  and  alone,  as  he  did  when  he  wrote  the 
Ten  Commandments  with  his  own  finger  on  tables  of 


THE  CANON  AND  INSPIRATION.  81 

stone.  (2.)  He  might  have  used  men  as  his  amanuenses, 
not  as  conscious  and  free  penmen,  but  mechanically  as 
his  instruments  of  writing  in  simple  obedience  to  his 
verbal  dictation.  (3.)  The  third  way  is  the  infinitely  bet- 
ter one  which  God  has  chosen.  It  is  the  God-like  way, 
which  is  in  analogy  with  all  his  methods.  He  first  cre- 
ated man  and  endowed  him  constitutionally  with  all  his 
rational,  emotional,  aesthetic,  moral  and  volitional  powers. 
He  then  brought  certain  individual  men  into  existence 
with  the  specific  qualifications  necessary  for  writing  cer- 
tain parts  of  Scripture,  and  placed  them  under  their  spe- 
cific historical  conditions  and  in  their  specific  positions 
in  the  succession  of  sacred  writers,  and  gave  them  the 
precise  degree  and  quality  of  religious  experience,  of  nat- 
ural providential  guidance,  of  supernatural  revelation 
and  inspiration  necessary  to  stimulate  their  free  activity 
and  to  determine  the  result  as  he  would  have  it. 

1.  In  the  first  place,  the  Bible  is  as  intensely  and  thor- 
oughly a  human  book  as  ever  existed.  As  Christ  was 
a  true  man,  tempted  in  all  points  as  we  are,  yet  with- 
out sin,  because  also  divine,  so  the  Bible  is  thoroughly 
human,  yet  without  error,  because  also  divine.  God  is 
infinite,  yet  his  word,  the  Bible,  is  finite — i.  e.  God's 
thought  is  expressed  under  all  the  limits  of  human 
thought  and  language,  so  that  man  may  receive  and 
profit  by  it.  God  is  omniscient,  but  his  word,  the  Bible, 
is  not  omniscient.  It  is  narrowly  limited  in  its  range  as 
a  human  book,  produced  by  the  instrumentality  of  human 
minds  and  addressed  to  human  minds  of  all  classes ;  but 
within  that  range  it  is  infallible,  without  any  error.  It 
has  its  limitations,  as  every  human  work  has.  It  is 
based  on  human  intuitions ;  it  proceeds  through  the  lines 


82  THE  HOLY  SCRIPTURES— 

of  human  logic;  it  implies  human  feelings,  tastes,  ex- 
periences. Every  separate  book  is  a  spontaneous  work 
of  human  genius,  and  bears  the  marks  of  all  the  per- 
sonal idiosyncrasies  and  of  the  historic  situation  of  its 
author.  The  individuality  of  Peter,  Paul,  John,  David, 
Isaiah  and  Moses  is  as  fully  expressed  in  their  writings 
as  that  of  Shakespeare  or  Milton  in  theirs.  Each  bib- 
lical writer  wrought  as  freely  and  as  spontaneously  as 
any  other.  Each  of  these  books  was  also  a  book  of  its 
time,  bore  the  marks  of  its  age,  and  was  specifically 
adapted  to  accomplish  its  immediate  end  among  its  con- 
temporaries. The  provincialisms  of  thought  and  idiom 
proper  to  the  situation  of  their  writers  are  found  in  these 
books.  They  make  no  claim  to  eminent  purity  of  lan- 
guage or  to  high  literary  merit  either  in  substance  or 
form.  Yet  all  these  writings,  severally  and  collectively, 
are  books  of  all  times,  adapted  perfectly  to  the  edifica- 
tion and  instruction  of  the  Church  of  every  age — of 
Moses,  of  David,  of  the  prophets,  of  the  time  of  Christ, 
of  the  ancient,  mediaeval,  Reformation  and  modern 
Church.  Of  all  books,  it  is  the  most  comprehensively 
human.  Of  all  God's  works,  it  is  the  most  characteris- 
tically divine.  It  is  in  one  view  an  entire  national  lit- 
erature ;  in  another  view  it  is  two  distinct  volumes ;  in 
another  view  it  is  one  single  work,  with  one  Author, 
subject,  method  and  end. 

2.  In  the  second  place,  the  Bible  is  a  divine  book, 
bearing  the  attributes  of  its  Author,  God.  All  along 
the  line  of  human  authorship  through  which  this  won- 
derful book  grew  to  be,  during  at  least  sixteen  hundred 
years,  God  provided  each  specifically  endowed  and  con- 
ditioned prophet  for  his  appointed  place  in  the  succes- 


THE  CANON  AND  INSPIRATION.  83 

sion,  a  place  prepared  for  him  by  all  who  had  preceded, 
and  on  this  foundation  already  provided  he  proceeds  to 
build  up  in  organic  continuity  and  in  symmetrical  pro- 
portion the  system  already  inaugurated.  To  each  prophet 
God  has  communicated  his  specific  item  of  revelation  and 
his  specific  impulse  and  direction  through  inspiration. 

3.  The  result  is  that  the  whole  is  an  organism,  a  whole 
consisting  of  many  parts  exquisitely  correlated  and  vitally 
independent. 

In  this  respect  you  may  compare  the  Koran  of  Mo- 
hammed with  the  Christian  Bible.     In  the  great  debate 
between  the  missionary  Henry  Martyn  and  the  Persian 
moulvies  the  latter  showed  a  great  superiority  of  logical 
and  rhetorical  power.     They  proved  that  the  Koran^was 
written  by  a  great  genius,  that  it  was  an  epoch-making 
book,  giving  law  to  a  language  pre-eminent  for  elegance 
inexhaustible  fullness  and  precision,  revolutionizing  king- 
doms, forming  empires  and  moulding  civilization.    Nev- 
ertheless, it  was  a  single  work,  within  the  grasp  of  one 
great  man.     But  Henry  Martyn  proved  that  the  Bible 
is  one  single  book,  one  single,  intricate,  orgauic  whole 
produced  by  more  than  forty  different  writers  of  every 
variety  of  culture  and  condition  through  sixteen  cen- 
turies of  time;  that  is,  through  about  fifty  successive 
generations  of  mankind.     As  a  great  cathedral,  erected 
by  many  hands  through  many  years,  is  born  of  one  con- 
ceiving mind  and  has  had  but  one  author,  so  only  God 
can  be  the  one  Author  of  the  whole  Bible,  for  only  he 
has  been  contemporaneous  with  all  stages  of  its  genesis; 
he  only  has  been  able  to  control  and  co-ordinate  all  the 
agents  concerned  in  its  production  so  as  to  conceive  and 
realize  the  incomparable  result. 


84  THE  HOLY  SCRIPTURES— 

4.  This  book,  whatever  we  may  think  of  the  propriety 
of  it,  unquestionably  claims  to  be  the  Word  of  God.  At 
the  opening  of  the  book  it  demands  the  implicit  credence 
and  obedience  of  every  reader.  Its  instant  order  to  every 
reader  is,  "  Believe  on  peril  of  your  soul's  life !"  It  does 
not  point  to  evidence  nor  plead  before  the  bar  of  human 
reason.  But  it  utters  the  voice  of  God  and  speaks  by 
authority.  What  other  book  does  this  ?  And  this  claim 
has  been  abundantly  vindicated  through  the  ages  in  the 
opinion  of  the  wisest  and  best  of  mankind — (1)  by  its 
demonstrations  of  supernatural  knowledge,  (2)  of  super- 
natural works,  (3)  of  supernatural  power  over  the  hearts 
and  consciences  of  men  ;  (4)  by  the  accompanying  wit- 
ness of  the  Holy  Ghost;  (5)  by  its  omnipresent  be- 
neficent influence  through  all  Christian  lands  and 
ages. 

What  would  you  think  if  to-day  at  high  noon  the  ex- 
istence and  the  light  and  heat  and  life-giving  radiance 
of  the  sun  were  brought  into  question?  How  would 
you  answer  the  skeptical  denial  of  that  self-evident  fact 
by  a  blind  man  ?  To  all  the  living  the  sun  is  its  own 
witness.  So  all  who  question  the  divinity  of  the  Bible 
only  condemn  themselves.  What  a  sorry  appearance  the 
grotesque  herd  make  even  now  ! 

V.  What  is  God's  part  in  bringing  this  Booh  of  books 
into  existence  f  This  falls  under  several  heads,  namely, 
providence ;  the  gracious  work  of  his  Spirit  on  the  heart ; 
revelation ;  inspiration. 

1.  Providence.  In  a  previous  lecture  I  showed  that 
God  is  to  be  conceived  of  as  an  infinite  Spirit,  presiding 
over  all  creatures  and  acting  upon  them  from  without  at 
his  will,  but  also  as  omnipresent,  at  every  moment  im- 


THE  CANON  AND   INSPIRATION.  85 

manent  in  every  ultimate  element  of  every  creature,  and 
acting  in  and  through  all  things  from  within.  Thus 
God's  activities  are  everywhere  confluent  with  our  own 
spontaneities.  All  creatures  live  and  move  and  have 
their  being  in  him.  He  works  in  us  to  will  as  well  as 
to  do ;  that  is,  as  free  agents,  though  willing  to  do  ac- 
cording to  his  good  pleasure.  A  great  musician  elicits 
his  most  perfect  music  out  of  instruments  and  under 
conditions  made  for  him  beforehand  by  other  men.  How 
much  more  completely  would  the  artist  be  the  sole  cre- 
ator of  his  wTork  if  he  could  at  will  first  create  his  ma- 
terial with  the  very  qualities  he  needs,  then  build  and 
attune  his  instruments  for  his  own  purposes,  and  then 
bring  out  from  them,  thus  prepared  and  adjusted,  the 
very  music  in  its  fullness  which  his  soul  has  designed 
from  the  first.  So  God  from  the  first  designed  and 
adapted  every  human  writer  employed  in  the  genesis  of 
Scripture.  Paul,  John,  Peter,  David,  Isaiah,  have  been 
made  precisely  what  they  were,  and  placed  and  condi- 
tioned precisely  as  they  were,  and  then  moved  to  write 
and  directed  in  writing  precisely  what  they  wrote.  The 
revelation  was  in  a  large  measure  through  an  historical 
series  of  events,  led  along  by  a  providential  guidance 
largely  natural,  but  surcharged,  as  a  cloud  with  elec- 
tricity, with  supernatural  elements  all  along  its  line. 
Thus  under  God's  providence  the  Scriptures  grew  to  be, 
all  the  conspiring  forces  which  contributed  to  their  for- 
mation acting  under  the  providential  control  of  the  ever 
present,  ever-acting,  immanent  God. 

2.  Spiritual  Illumination.  This  includes  the  whole  sum 
of  God's  gracious  dealing  with  the  soul  of  his  prophet, 
qualifying  him  to  be  the  fit  organ  for  the  communication 


86  THE  HOLY  SCRIPTURES— 

of  religious  truth.  In  order  to  exhibit  truth  iu  its  com- 
prehensive logical  relations  God  employed  the  logical  and 
scholastically  trained  mind  of  Paul.  In  all  his  writing 
this  natural  and  acquired  faculty  of  Paul  acted  under 
God's  guidance  as  spontaneously  and  naturally  as  the 
same  faculty  ever  wrought  iu  the  case  of  any  other  writer. 
But  in  relation  to  spiritual  truth  the  natural  mind  of 
man  is  blind  and  without  feeling.  Spiritual  illumination 
by  the  Holy  Ghost,  a  personal  religious  experience,  was 
as  necessary  in  the  case  of  such  writers  as  David,  John 
and  Paul  as  aesthetic  taste  and  genius  are  in  the  case  of 
a  poet  or  artist.  The  spiritual  intuition  of  John,  the 
spiritualized  understanding  of  Paul,  the  personal  relig- 
ious experience  of  David,  have  by  the  superadded  gift 
of  inspiration  been  rendered  permanently  typical  and 
normal  to  the  Church  in  all  ages. 

3.  Revelation.  Spiritual  illumination  opens  the  organ 
of  spiritual  vision  and  clarifies  it.  Revelation,  on  the 
other  hand,  gives  the  additional  light  which  nature  does 
not  supply.  In  every  instance  where  supernatural 
knowledge  of  God,  his  attributes,  his  purposes,  of  the 
secrets  of  his  grace  or  of  the  future  of  the  Church  iu 
this  world,  of  the  life  of  body  or  of  soul  after  death, 
came  to  be  needed  by  a  sacred  writer,  God  immediately 
gave  it  to  him  by  revelation.  This  was  done  in  various 
ways,  as  by  visions,  dreams,  direct  mental  suggestion, 
verbal  dictation  and  the  like  ;  but  whatever  the  method 
of  communication  it  was  perfectly  adequate  to  the  occa- 
sion and  congruous  to  the  nature  of  the  person  to  whom 
it  was  made.  This,  of  course,  was  never  furnished  ex- 
cept on  the  occasions  when  it  was  needed :  it  appears 
more  frequently  in  some  portions  of  Scripture  than  in 


THE  CANON  AND  INSPIRATION.  87 

others,  but  however  frequent  it  was  an  occasional  and 
not  a  constant  element  of  the  Bible. 

4.  Inspiration.  This  was  the  absolutely  constant  attri- 
bute of  every  portion  and  of  every  element  of  the  Script- 
ures, and  that  attribute  which  renders  them  infallible  in 
every  utterance,  and  which  thus  constitutes  their  grand 
distinguishing  trait,  separating  them  by  the  whole  heav- 
ens from  all  other  books.  Revelation  supernaturally 
communicated  to  the  sacred  writer  the  truth  which  he 
needed,  and  which  he  did  not  possess  and  could  not  attain 
by  auy  natural  means.  Inspiration,  on  the  other  hand, 
is  that  influence  of  the  immanent  Holy  Ghost  which  ac- 
companied every  thought  and  feeling  and  impulse  and 
action  of  the  sacred  writer  involved  in  the  function  of 
writing  the  word,  and  which  guided  him  in  the  selection 
and  utterance  of  truth — i.  e.  in  its  conception  and  in  its 
verbal  expression — so  that  the  very  mind  of  God  in  the 
premises  was  expressed  with  infallible  accuracy.  This 
influence  was  exerted  from  within  the  writer,  not  upon 
him  from  without.  It  in  no  degree  constrains  or  forces ; 
it  directs  through  the  writer's  own  spontaneity.  It 
modifies  action  only  so  far  as  action  would  be  otherwise 
divergent  from  the  purpose  of  God  or  inadequate.  It 
is  like  the  directive  agency  of  the  plastic  soul  of  the  tree, 
which  so  directs  the  physical  forces  engaged  in  its  erec- 
tion that  they  spontaneously  combine  to  form  its  intricate 
and  voluminous  organism.  Or  it  is  like  the  touch  of  the 
charioteer  upon  the  reins  which  guide  the  courses  of  the 
racing  steeds.  Or  it  is  like  the  touch  of  the  hand  of  the 
steerer  upon  the  rudder  of  the  boat  carried  gently  down 
the  meandering  stream  by  the  currents  of  the  air  and 
water.     These   currents   symbolize   the  natural   powers 


88  THE  HOLY  SCRIPTURES— 

and  knowledge  of  the  sacred  writer,  reinforced  by  reve- 
lation and  by  grace.  The  hand  on  the  rudder  symbol- 
izes inspiration.  It  secures  the  fact  that  all  things  go 
right  according  to  the  will  of  the  steersman.  But  it  in- 
terferes only  by  gentle  and  alternate  pressure,  and  thus 
only  when  otherwise  the  currents  if  left  to  themselves 
would  not  fulfill  his  will. 

VI.  What  is  the  doctrine  of  the  Christian  Church  as 
to  the  extent  to  which  the  Scriptures  are  inspired  f 

The  two  opinions  which  individual  Christian  men 
have  severally  maintained  on  this  subject  are  represented 
respectively  by  the  two  alternative  phrases,  "  The  Script- 
ures contain  the  Word  of  God,"  "  The  Scriptures  are  the 
Word  of  God." 

The  first  is  the  loose  formula  of  those  who  hold  a  low 
doctrine  of  inspiration.  A  river  in  India,  "  rolling  down 
its  golden  sands,"  may  be  truly  said  to  contain  gold.  But 
in  that  case  we  are  left  in  doubt  as  to  the  relative  pro- 
portion between  the  sand  and  the  gold,  and  to  our  own 
resources  to  discriminate  and  separate  the  two.  If  the 
Bible  only  "contains  the  Word  of  God,"  it  evidently 
can  be  no  infallible  rule  of  faith  and  practice,  because  we 
are  confessedly  left  to  the  two  very  human  and  fallible 
instruments  (1)  of  "  Higher  Criticism,"  and  (2)  of  the 
"  Christian  consciousness,"  to  determine  what  elements 
of  the  Scriptures  are  the  very  "  Word  of  God  "  and  what 
elements  are  only  the  word  of  man.  A  law  can  have  no 
infallibility  beyond  that  of  the  court  which  interprets  it. 
So  in  this  view  of  the  case  the  Bible  has  no  infallibility 
beyond  that  of  the  criticism  and  consciousness  of  our 
self-appointed,  self-complacent  guides. 

But  the  Church  has  always  held  that  "  the  Scriptures 


THE  CANON  AND  INSPIRATION.  89 

are  the  Word  of  God."  This  means  that,  however  these 
books  may  have  been  produced  through  human  agency, 
God  has  (1)  so  controlled  the  process  of  their  genesis,  and 
(2)  he  so  absolutely  endorses  the  result,  that  the  Bible  in 
every  book  and  every  word,  both  in  matter  and  in  form, 
is  the  very  Word  of  God  uttered  to  us.  Hence  it  is  in 
every  part  and  in  every  word  (of  the  original  autographs) 
absolutely  inerrant  and  of  absolute  divine  authority. 

The  phrase  "  verbal  inspiration  "  applied  to  the  Script- 
ures does  not  mean  that  the  sacred  writers  were  inspired 
or  directed  in  their  work  by  words  dictated  or  suggested. 
But  it  means  that  the  divine  influence  which  we  call  in- 
spiration, and  which  accompanied  them  throughout  their 
entire  work,  extended  to  the  verbal  expression  of  every 
thought  as  well  as  to  the  thoughts  themselves.  This  in- 
spiration has  extended  equally  to  every  part  of  Scripture, 
matter  and  form,  thought  and  words,  and  renders  the 
whole  and  every  part  inerrant. 

Calvin,  in  the  sixth,  seventh  and  eighth  chapters  of 
his  Institutes,  continually  uses  the  phrases  "  Scripture," 
"  the  Scriptures,"  "  the  sacred  volume,"  and  "  the  Word 
of  God  "  as  synonymous.  The  first  Reformed  Confession 
of  national  authority,  the  First  Helvetic,  says,  art.  i., 
"Canonical  Scripture  is  the  Word  of  God."  The  Second 
Helvetic  Confession  was  the  most  widely  recognized  of 
all  the  Reformed  Confessions  in  Switzerland,  France, 
Hungary,  Poland,  Scotland,  and  highly  honored  in  Eng- 
land and  Holland.  It  says,  "We  believe  and  confess 
that  the  canonical  Scriptures  of  the  holy  prophets  and 
apostles  of  both  Testaments  are  the  Word  of  God,  and 
have  plenary  authority  of  themselves  and  not  from  men." 
Every  Presbyterian  minister  and  elder  in  England,  Scot- 


90  THE  HOLY  SCRIPTURES— 

land,  Ireland,  Canada  and  the  United  States,  North  and 
South,  believes  this  or  he  has  forsworn  himself.  Each 
one  has  at  his  ordination  solemnly  declared,  before  God 
and  man,  that  he  believes  these  Scriptures  "to  be  the  Word 
of  God"  (Confession  of  Faith,  Presbyterian  Board  of 
Publication,  pp.  429,  434,  441).  Thomas  Cartwright, 
the  father  of  English  Presbyterianism,  in  his  Treatise  of 
the  Christian  Religion;  or,  The  Whole  Body  and  Sub- 
stance of  Divinity  (London,  A.  D.  1616),  has  written  his 
twelfth  chapter  "  On  the  Word  of  God."  This  he  iden- 
tifies with  the  collection  of  canonical  books,  and  accounts 
for  their  authority  by  saying,  "  for  God  is  the  Author  of 
them" 

This  is  the  doctrine  of  the  whole  historical  Church  of 
God.  The  Roman  Catholic  Church  declares  it  defide  to 
believe  that  God  is  the  Author  of  every  part  of  both 
Testaments  (Can.  Council  of  Trent,  sec.  4;  Dog.  Decrees 
of  Vatican  Council,  1870,  sec.  3,  chap.  2).  Also  every 
branch  of  the  Reformed  Church — e.  g.  Belgic  Confession, 
Art.  3 ;  Second  Helvetic  Confession,  chap.  1 ;  Westminster 
Confession,  chap.  1.  In  this  respect  the  late  Professor 
Henry  B.  Smith,  the  noble  representative  of  the  theol- 
ogy of  the  New  School  branch  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  the  United  States,  precisely  agrees  with  the 
late  Professor  Charles  Hodge,  who  equally  represented 
the  theology  of  the  Old  School  branch.  In  his  sermon 
on  The  Inspiration  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  delivered  be- 
fore the  Synod  of  New  York  and  New  Jersey,  October 
17,  1855,  Dr.  Smith  said:  "All  the  divine  revelations 
which  are  here  recorded  are  also  inspired,  but  all  that  is 
the  subject  of  inspiration  need  not  be  conceived  of  as 
distinctly  revealed.     Inspiration  designates  that  divine 


THE  CANON  AND  INSPIRATION.  91 

influence  under  which  prophets  or  apostles  spake  or 
wrote  as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost.  Christ 
is  the  great  Revealer,  the  Holy  Spirit  inspires. 

"Its  function  is  to  convey  unto  the  world,  through 
divinely -commissioned  prophets  and  apostles,  either  orally 
or  by  writing,  under  the  specific  influence  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  whatever  has  been  thus  revealed.  Its  object  is  the 
communication  of  truth  in  an  infallible  manner,  so  that 
when  rightfully  interpreted  no  error  is  conveyed. 

"  It  comprises  both  the  matter  and  the  form  of  the 
Bible — the  matter  in  the  form  in  which  it  is  conveyed 
and  set  forth.  It  extends  even  to  the  language — not  in 
the  mechanical  sense  that  each  word  is  dictated  by  the 
Holy  Spirit,  but  in  the  sense  that  under  divine  guidance 
each  writer  spake  in  his  own  language  according  to  the 
measure  of  his  knowledge,  acquired  by  personal  experi- 
ence, the  testimony  of  others  or  by  immediate  divine 
revelation. 

"  So  wonderfully  do  the  divine  and  human  elements 
commingle  in  the  Scriptures,  as  do  the* -first  and  second 
causes  also  in  the  realm  of  providence,  that  it  is  vain  to 
limit  inspiration  to  doctrine  and  truth,  excluding  history 
from  its  sphere.  The  attempt  is  as  unphilosophical  as  it 
is  unscriptural.  No  analysis  can  detect  such  a  line  of 
separation.  It  is  both  invisible  and  not  to  be  spiritually 
discerned. 

"The  theory  of  plenary  inspiration,  as  we  have  al- 
ready given  it,  comprises  whatever  is  true  in  all  these 
views,  subordinate  to  the  prime  position  that  the  Bible 
not  only  contains,  but  is,  the    Word  of  God." 

Dr.  H.  B.  Smith's  Introduction  to  Christian  Theology : 
"  Inspiration  gives  us  a  book,  properly  called  the  Word 


92  THE  HOLY  SCRIPTURES— 

of  God,  inspired  in  all  its  parts.  The  inspiration  is 
plenary  in  the  sense  of  extending  to  all  the  parts  and  of 
extending  also  to  the  words." 

VII.  What  is  to  be  said  as  to  alleged  discrejmncies  f 
The  above  statement  unquestionably  truly  represents 
the  ancient  and  catholic  faith  of  the  historic  Church  of 
Christ.  The  hostile  critics  and  theorists  object  that  the 
Scriptures  are  full  of  inaccuracies  and  discrepancies  of 
statement — (1)  as  between  the  statements  of  Scripture 
and  modern  science  or  undoubted  history ;  (2)  as  between 
one  statement  or  quotation  of  Scripture  and  another. 
In  answer  to  this  we  have  time  to  say  only — 
1st.  We  freely  admit  that  many  errors  have  crept  into 
the  sacred  text  as  it  exists  at  present,  although  none  of 
these  errors,  nor  all  of  them  together,  obscure  one  Chris- 
tian doctrine  or  important  fact.  In  order  to  make  good 
the  objection  of  the  critics  it  is  necessary  that  they  show 
that  the  discrepancy  exists  when  the  clearly  ascertained 
original  text  of  Scripture  is  in  question. 

2d.  The  Scriptures  were  not  written  from  the  scientific 
point  of  view  nor  intended  to  anticipate  science.  A  dis- 
tinction should  be  clearly  drawn  and  strongly  held  be- 
tween the  speculations  of  science  and  its  ascertained  facts. 
The  speculations  of  science  are  like  the  changing  cur- 
rents of  the  sea,  while  the  Scriptures  have  breasted  them 
like  the  rocks  for  two  thousand  years.  The  Scriptures 
speak  of  nature  as  it  presents  itself  phenomenally. 
When  this  is  remembered,  the  Bible  contradicts  no  fact 
of  science.  On  the  contrary,  the  entire  view  of  the  gene- 
sis and  order  of  the  physical  world  presented  by  the 
Bible,  in  contrast  with  all  the  other  ancient  books  what- 
soever, is  in  correspondence  with  that  presented  by  mod- 


THE  CANON  AND  INSPIRATION  93 

eru  science  to  a  degree  perfectly  miraculous.  The  men 
who  press  this  objection  are  ignorant  either  of  science 
or  of  the  Bible,  or,  more  probably,  of  both. 

3d.  As  to  the  alleged  discrepancies  with  history,  it 
must  be  remembered  (a)  that  the  most  modern  discov- 
eries (from  Egypt  and  Assyria)  most  wonderfully  con- 
firm the  historical  accuracy  of  Scripture ;  (b)  that  when 
only  a  part  of  an  ancient  situation  is  historically  illumi- 
nated, different  accounts  may  appear  inconsistent  which 
are  really  complementary  to  each  other  and  mutually 
supporting. 

4th.  As  to  the  discrepancies  alleged  to  exist  in  certain 
passages  between  the  Scriptures  themselves,  it  is  evident 
that  the  question  is  one  of  fact,  which  can  be  settled  only 
by  a  thorough,  learned,  intelligent  and  impartial  investi- 
gation. Very  few  men  are  qualified  to  give  an  opinion. 
There  is  no  possibility  of  commencing  even  an  investi- 
gation in  a  popular  lecture.  It  is  sufficient  for  me  that 
men  like  my  learned  colleagues  in  Princeton  Seminary, 
who  spend  their  lives  in  the  special  study  of  the  Hebrew 
and  Greek  Scriptures,  assure  me  that  one  single  instance 
of  such  discrepancy  has  never  been  proved.  Friends,  let 
the  frogs  croak;  in  the  mean  time  let  us  possess  our 
souls  in  peace,  waiting  until  the  first  case  of  discrepancy 
is  proved. 


LECTURE    V. 

PRAYER  AND  THE  PRAYER-CURE. 

A  complete  treatise  on  the  subject  of  prayer  would 
necessarily  include  three  special  subdivisions :  (1)  Prayer 
considered  as  a  fact  and  an  efficient  agency  in  relation  to 
God,  to  his  eternal  plans  and  to  the  laws  of  the  universe ; 
(2)  prayer  considered  as  a  Christian  grace ;  (3)  the  man- 
ner in  which  prayer  is  to  be  practiced  and  expressed, 
both  as  a  private  and  as  a  public  exercise.  In  this  lect- 
ure we  are,  of  course,  confined  by  the  limited  time  and 
by  the  nature  of  the  occasion  to  the  first  subdivision ; 
that  is,  to  the  consideration  of  prayer  and  its  answer  as 
a  fact,  and  as  an  efficient  agency  in  relation  to  God  and 
to  his  eternal  plans  and  to  the  laws  and  natural  forces  of 
the  universe. 

All  religion  presupposes  the  personality  of  God,  and 
springs  from  the  personal  relations  subsisting  between 
man  and  God.  God  can  and  does  act  upon  men  from 
within  and  below  consciousness,  turning  the  hearts  of 
men  even  as  rivers  of  water  are  turned.  But  he  also 
acts  upon  us  through  our  conscious  acts  of  perception 
and  feeling,  called  into  exercise  by  his  external  inter- 
course with  us  as  a  Person  speaking  to  persons.  He  is 
always  face  to  face  with  us,  our  constant  companion  and 
guide  and  friend.  From  our  creation  he  is  constantly 
standing  to  us  in  the  relation  of  our  Father  and  of  our 

94 


PRAYER  AND   THE  PRAYER-CURE.  95 

moral  Governor.  And  in  these  relations  we  have  been 
sustaining  intercourse  with  him  ceaselessly  all  our  lives. 
Sin  consists  in  man's  want  of  sympathy  with  God,  his 
moral  character,  purposes  and  mode  of  action  in  these 
relations.  When  we  are  born  again  by  the  Holy  Ghost 
we  are  brought  into  sympathy  with  him  in  all  these  re- 
spects, and  thus  intercourse  with  him  becomes  consciously 
active  on  our  part,  more  and  more  intimate  and  tender, 
and  a  source  of  joy  to  us  continually.  To  this  conscious 
intercourse  we  assign  the  name  "  prayer "  in  the  wide 
sense  of  that  word,  whether  it  is  breathed  in  discon- 
nected ejaculations  or  said  or  sung  in  connected  sequences 
of  thought  or  emotion.  Prayer  in  this  wider  sense  in- 
cludes all  the  exercises  proper  to  the  relation  our. souls, 
as  sinful  yet  redeemed  and  reconciled,  sustain  to  God — 
e.  g.  adoration,  confession,  thanksgiving  and  supplication 
for  ourselves  and  others. 

The  great  design  of  God  in  this  relation  is  to  effect 
our  education  and  government  as  rational  and  spiritual 
beings.  He  accomplishes  these  ends  by  revealing  to  us 
his  perfections,  by  training  our  intellects  to  follow  the 
great  lines  of  thought  developed  in  his  plans  and  re- 
vealed in  his  works,  and  by  training  us  to  action  in  the 
exercise  of  all  our  faculties  as  co-workers  with  each  other 
and  with  him  in  the  execution  of  his  plans. 

In  order  to  accomplish  both  these  ends  at  once,  the 
education  of  our  thought  and  the  training  of  our  faculty 
by  active  exercise,  God  has  established  a  comprehensive 
and  unchangeable  system  of  laws,  of  second  causes 
working  uniformly,  of  fixed  sequences  and  established 
methods,  by  which  he  works  and  by  which  he  can  train 
us  to  understand  his  working  and  to  work  with  him 


96  PRAYER  AND  THE  PRAYER-CURE. 

This  careful  adherence  to  the  use  of  means,  to  the  slow 
and  circuitous  operation  of  second  causes  and  established 
laws,  is  surely  not  for  God's  sake.  It  cannot  be  neces- 
sary to  him.  It  is  ordained  and  rigidly  adhered  to  only 
for  our  sake.  And  for  us  it  is  absolutely  necessary.  If 
means  were  not  necessary  to  the  attainment  of  ends  ;  if 
God  did  not  carefully  confine  his  powers  to  the  lines  of 
established  and  known  laws  ;  if  we  lived  in  a  world  in 
which  miracle,  instead  of  being  the  infinite  exception, 
was  the  rule,  and  God  was  constantly  breaking  forth 
with  the  exercise  of  supernatural  power  in  unexpected 
places,  and  like  the  wild  lightning  eluding  the  most 
rapid  thought  as  it  dashes  zigzag  across  the  sky, — we 
should  find  all  thought  and  intelligent  action  impossible. 
We  could  not  understand  God,  because  we  could  not 
trace  the  relation  of  means  to  ends  in  his  action.  If  we 
could  not  understand  him,  we  could  not  appreciate  his 
wisdom,  his  righteousness  or  his  benevolence.  We  could 
not  work  with  him,  for  we  could  not  depend  upon  the 
operation  of  any  means,  we  could  not  hope  to  effect  any 
results.  The  universe  would  be  a  chaos  and  the  com- 
munity of  men  a  bedlam.  In  order  to  accomplish  the 
necessary  understanding  between  God  and  man,  and  in 
order  to  afford  a  secure  basis  for  the  exercise  of  human 
faculties  in  the  education  of  man  and  the  moulding  of 
human  character,  the  established  fixed  relations  between 
cause  and  effect,  uniform  sequences  of  natural  law,  must 
be  universal,  continuous,  perpetual  and  absolutely  unin- 
terrupted, without  any  exception  except  for  good  and 
well-understood  reasons.  If  there  be  miracles  at  all, 
they  must  explain  themselves  as  divine  signs  by  their 
connection  with  a  new  direct  message  from  the  heavenly 


PRAYER  AND   THE  PRAYER-CURE.  97 

Father  to  his  children  on  the  earth.  In  that  case,  and 
in  that  case  only,  the  miracle  brings  God  nearer  to  his 
children  and  makes  his  way  more  plain  to  them.  In 
every  other  case  a  miracle  is  only  a  bewilderment  and 
an  offence,  which  darkens  the  face  of  God  and  effaces 
the  evidence  of  his  being  and  the  traces  of  his  wisdom 
and  love. 

Observe  how  patiently  through  the  ages  of  ages  God 
confines  himself  to  the  slow  processes  of  natural  law, 
and  never  impatiently  cuts  across  the  heavens  to  accom- 
plish suddenly  by  miracle  the  results  for  which  he  works. 
Follow  the  long,  long  cycle  of  the  geologic  ages  in 
which  God,  by  slow  natural  processes,  by  the  law  of 
means  adapted  to  ends,  is  preparing  the  world  to  be  the 
fit  habitation  of  man  and  the  adjusted  theatre  of  humaD 
history.  Trace  with  your  eyes  the  long,  long  cycle  of 
human  history  preceding  the  advent  of  our  Redeemer, 
while  God  is  patiently  governing  his  rebellious  subjects, 
aud  by  natural  causes  and  historical  methods  evolving 
the  plan  of  salvation  and  preparing  the  world  for  Christ, 
who  never  came  until  all  things  were  ready  and  the  full- 
ness of  the  time  was  come.  Look  along  the  tedious  course 
of  the  history  of  the  Christian  Church  since  the  advent 
of  Christ,  and  learn  the  lesson  of  God's  methods  by  his 
use  of  second  causes,  by  his  slow  following  of  the  lines 
of  natural  law  in  the  development  of  his  kingdom,  and 
his  preparation  for  the  second  coming  of  our  Lord. 
Each  and  all  of  these  results  God  could  have  accom- 
plished by  miracle.  But  in  that  case  his  wisdom  would 
have  remained  hidden  in  his  own  being,  and  his  people 
would  have  failed  utterly  of  education — neither  know- 
ing God  or  his  way,  nor  trained  to  exercise  all  their  fac- 
7 


98  PRAYER  AND  THE  PRAYER-CURE. 

ulties  of  head  aud  heart  aud  will  as  workers  together 
with  him. 

There  are  two  extreme  and  equally  false  views  as  to 
this  framework  of  second  causes  and  natural  law  in  its 
relation  to  the  action  of  God  and  to  our  intercourse  with 
him  through  faith  and  prayer.  The  one  view,  that  of 
deists  and  rationalists  and  agnostics,  makes  this  frame- 
work of  second  causes  and  natural  law,  which  men  call 
Nature,  an  iron,  impenetrable  barrier,  which  utterly 
separates  God  and  man,  which  makes  prayer  an  empty 
form  and  divine  help  and  sympathy  a  delusion.  The 
opposite  view,  just  as  false  and  pernicious,  regards  this 
framework  of  second  causes  and  natural  law  as  simply  a 
stage,  with  natural  scenery  as  a  background,  on  which  to 
exhibit  startling  and  bewildering  miracles,  without  sys- 
tem or  meaning  or  evidential  value.  The  true  view  of 
this  framework  of  second  causes  and  natural  law  is  that 
(1)  it  reveals  God  and  his  perfections  to  man  in  a  form 
he  can  understand  and  appreciate ;  (2)  it  affords  a  prac- 
ticable basis  on  which  human  faculties  can  be  educated 
and  men  trained  as  intelligent  co-workers  with  God ;  (3) 
it  presents  an  invariable  course  of  action  that  we  must 
follow;  nevertheless  it  is  infinitely  flexible,  so  that  men 
everywhere  are  able,  by  the  rational  use  of  means,  to 
accomplish  their  purposes.  Thus,  men  following  and 
using  natural  law  plant  and  sow  and  raise  crops,  navi- 
gate the  air  with  balloons  and  the  sea  with  ships,  tunnel 
mountains,  erect  buildings,  and  girdle  the  earth  with  the 
electric  currents  of  thought  and  purpose.  (4)  This  great 
permanent  framework  of  second  causes  and  natural  law.s 
is,  of  course,  incomparably  more  flexible  in  the  hands  of 
God  than  it  can  be  in  the  hands  of  man.     We  know 


PRAYER  AND  THE  PRAYER-CURE.  99 

these  laws  partially  and  imperfectly :  God  knows  them 
perfectly.  We  act  upon  these  second  causes  externally  : 
God  acts  upon  them  internally.  We  act  upon  them  only 
at  a  few  isolated  points :  God  acts  upon  every  point  of 
the  infinite  system  at  the  same  time.  Surely,  therefore, 
while  God  can  act  through  nature  in  a  supernatural  man- 
ner, he  can  also,  like  us,  only  infinitely  more  perfectly, 
act  through  nature  and  in  accordance  with  natural  law 
in  accomplishing  his  purposes.  He  can  answer  prayer, 
send  rain  or  sunshine,  turn  into  new  channels  rivers  of 
water  or  currents  of  air,  just  as  he  turns  the  hearts  of 
men,  without  violating  natural  laws. 

Using  the  word  "  prayer "  in  this  discussion  in  the 
specific  sense  of  "  petition,"  "  supplication  for  desired 
benefits,  spiritual  and  material,"  we  will  proceed  to  dis- 
cuss the  following  points : 

I.  What  are  the  true  conditions  of  acceptable  prayer  ? 

II.  In  what  sense  and  under  what  limits  are  we  to 
expect  to  have  our  prayers  answered  ? 

III.  Answer  objection  drawn  from  the  previous  cer- 
tainty of  events  determined  by  God's  eternal  purpose. 

IV.  Answer  objection  drawn  from  fixity  of  the  laws 
of  nature. 

V.  Show  that  the  faith  of  the  Christian  Church  in 
the  efficacy  of  prayer  is  confirmed  by  uniform  Christian 
experience. 

VI.  Apply  these  principles  to  the  question  of  the 
modern  "faith-cure." 

I.  What  are  the  true  conditions  of  acceptable  prayer  ? 

1.  The  person  offering  the  prayer  must  be  in  a  state 
of  reconciliation  to  God  through  Christ.  This  does  not 
mean  that  God  never  answers  the  prayers  of  unregener- 


100  PRAYER  AND  THE  PRAYER-CURE. 

ate  persons;  but  the  promise  can  be  claimed  only  by 
those  who  have  accepted  the  conditions  of  salvation  and 
are  loyal  to  their  Christian  engagements. 

2.  The  prayer  must  be  sincere,  must  express  a  real 
desire  of  the  heart,  and  it  must  be  offered  and  the 
answer  sought  only  through  the  merits  and  interces- 
sion of  Jesus  Christ. 

3.  The  prayer  must  be  offered  in  absolute  submission 
to  the  higher,  broader  knowledge,  wisdom  and  righteous- 
ness of  God.  It  must  follow  our  Saviour's  "  not  as  I 
will,  but  as  thou  wilt."  The  only  objects  for  which  we 
have  any  warrant  to  press  unconditional  petitions  are : 
(1)  our  own  sanctification ;  (2)  the  bringing  on  of  the 
triumph  of  Christ's  kingdom,  because  God  has  positively 
revealed  both  of  these  to  be  his  "  will."  The  uncondi- 
tioned, unsubmissive  demand  for  any  other  benefit,  in 
relation  to  which  the  will  of  God  is  as  yet  unrevealed, 
is  obviously  a  presumptuous  sin,  a  ground  of  offence, 
and  not  an  acceptable  prayer. 

4.  In  order  that  the  prayer  shall  be  acceptable,  the 
person  praying  must  in  every  case  intelligently  and  dili- 
gently use  the  means  provided  by  God  himself  in  the 
great  framework  of  second  causes  and  natural  laws  for 
the  attainment  of  the  end  desired.  If  a  man  who  prays 
for  a  crop  neglects  to  sow  the  seed ;  or  if  a  man  who 
prays  for  learning  neglects  to  study ;  or  if  a  man  who 
prays  for  the  cure  of  disease  neglects  to  take  the  ap- 
pointed remedies ;  or  if  a  man  who  prays  for  sanctifica- 
tion neglects  to  use  the  means  of  grace ;  or  if  a  man 
who  prays  for  the  conversion  of  sinners  neglects  to  work 
for  it  as  far  as  his  power  or  opportunity  goes, — then,  in 
every  case,  he  disobeys  and  insults  God :  his  prayer  is  a 


PRAYER  AND  THE  PRAYER-CURE.  101 

mockery  and  an  offence,  and  it  can  be  answered  only  by 
rebuke  and  chastisement. 

Means  in  relation  to  ends  and  ends  in  dependence  upon 
means  are  as  much  an  ordiuance  of  God  and  as  obligatory 
on  us  as  prayer  itself.  If  God  shuts  us  up  in  a  situation 
where  no  means  are  possible,  we  have  a  right  to  pray  for 
what  we  want  in  the  absence  of  all  means,  and  God  is 
perfectly  able  to  give  it  to  us  without  means,  if  it  seem 
wisest  and  best  to  himself.  But  in  every  case  in  which 
means  are  available  to  us  their  use  is  commanded,  and 
the  poor  fanatic  who  neglects  them  and  petulantly  cries 
for  what  he  wants  dishonors  God,  grieves  rational  Chris- 
tians and  gives  occasion  to  the  devil  and  to  his  friends  to 
triumph. 

5.  We  must  believe  in  the  efficacy  of  prayer  itself  as 
a  divinely-appointed  means  of  attaining  blessings.  We 
must  believe  that  we  do  and  will  obtain  blessings  by 
means  of  prayer  which  we  would  not  attain  without  it. 

II.  In  what  sense  and  under  what  limits  are  we  to 
expect  to  have  our  prayers  answered? 

Agnostic  and  naturalistic  critics  of  the  Christian  faith 
have  admitted  that  prayer  might  be  a  power  in  the  spir- 
itual sphere,  and  that  in  every  case  its  subjective  effects 
upon  the  person  praying,  upon  his  state  of  mind  and 
character,  would  be  beneficial,  but  that  it  is  absurd  to 
admit  that  prayer  could  have  any  effect  upon  the  mind 
or  purpose  or  act  of  God,  or  any  influence  upon  the 
course  of  events  in  the  material  world. 

It  is  true  that  prayer  is  a  power  in  the  spiritual  world, 
that  it  does  secure  spiritual  blessings,  and  that  it  does 
produce  valuable  subjective  effects  upon  the  state  of 
mind  and  character  of  the  person  praying.     But  Christ 


102  PRAYER  AND  THE  PRAYER-CURE. 

commands  us  to  ask  for  our  daily  bread,  which  includes 
all  desired  temporal  and  material  benefits.  If  we  are  to 
pray  honestly  for  daily  bread  or  for  any  other  desired 
material  good,  it  must  be  because  we  are  assured  that  if 
we  pray  we  may  really  and  truly  influence  the  mind  of 
God  to  give  it  to  us.  To  ask  God  for  an  objective  ma- 
terial good  when  we  believe  that  the  only  possible  effect 
of  the  asking  is  an  internal  and  spiritual  modification 
of  our  own  feelings,  is  false  and  hypocritical,  unworthy 
of  either  God  or  man,  and  sure  to  be  of  no  effect. 

The  Scriptures  assure  us,  and  all  Christians  believe, 
that  prayer  for  material  as  well  as  for  spiritual  good  is 
as  real  a  means  of  effecting  the  end  sought  as  is  sowing 
seed  a  means  of  getting  a  crop,  or  as  is  studying  a  means 
of  getting  learning,  or  as  are  praying  and  reading  the 
Bible  means  of  sanctification.  But  it  is  a  moral,  not  a 
physical,  cause.  Its  efficiency  consists  in  its  power  of 
affecting  the  mind  of  God  and  disposing  him  to  do  for 
us  what  he  would  not  do  if  we  did  not  pray. 

But  it  is  plain  that  in  order  to  be  effectual  in  any 
given  case  the  prayer  must  have  all  the  conditions  or 
elements  of  true  Christian  prayer  stated  under  the  former 
head.  The  person  praying  must  be  in  favor  with  God : 
he  must  be  sincere,  must  present  his  prayer  only  through 
Christ  and  trust  only  in  Christ's  mediation.  He  must 
desire  the  thing  sought,  and  ask  for  it  only  in  complete 
submission  to  the  wise  and  righteous  will  of  God.  There 
is  nothing  more  contemptible  than  the  presumptuous 
claim  that  God  has  subjected  the  government  of  the  uni- 
verse to  our  dictation.  Every  really  holy  soul  must 
prefer  a  million  times  that  God  should  reign  absolutely 
and  do  with  him  and  his  as  seems  best  in  his  sight. 


PRAYER  AND  THE  PRAYER-CURE.  103 

What  child  of  an  earthly  father  can  judge  in  any  case 
what  upon  the  whole  and  in  the  long  run  is  best  for 
itself?  How 'much  more  should  we  insist  upon  leaving 
every  decision  at  the  disposal  of  our  heavenly  Father ! 
And  lastly,  the  person  praying  must  be  diligent  in  using 
all  the  appointed  means  which  are  available  to  him  to 
secure  the  end. 

When  all  the  conditions  are  fulfilled  God  will  with 
absolute  certainty  be  moved  to  answer  our  prayer — to  do 
for  us  what  he  would  not  have  done  if  we  had  not  prayed. 
He  will,  if  he  sees  it  best,  give  us  precisely  what  we  ask 
for,  at  the  precise  time,  in  the  precise  manner.  Or  he 
may  give  it  substantially  in  a  different  time  and  manner. 
Or  he  may  give  us  something  better,  something  which 
we  ourselves  would  desire  more  if  only  we  had  the  eyes 
to  see  as  God  sees.  How  do  you  treat  your  little  ones 
when  they  cry  for  unwholesome  sweets  ?  God  never  will 
give  us  a  stone  when  we  ask  for  bread,  or  a  serpent 
when  we  ask  for  an  egg ;  but  he  often  does  give  us  bread 
when  we  ignorantly  ask  for  a  stone,  and  an  egg  when 
we  perversely  desire  a  serpent. 

III.  But  it  is  objected  that  the  doctrine  of  prayer  is 
absurd,  because  God  has  already  from  eternity  deter- 
mined whatsoever  comes  to  pass ;  every  event  is  already 
fixed  in  his  eternal  purpose ;  and  this  purpose  is  abso- 
lutely immutable  and  cannot  be  changed.  What,  then, 
is  the  use  of  asking  him  to  do  what  we  wish  done  ?  If 
it  is  already  decreed,  there  is  no  need  to  ask  for  it ;  if  it 
is  not  already  decreed,  there  is  no  use  to  ask  for  it. 

We  answer  :  1.  This  is  a  theoretical  objection  hard  to 
answer,  simply  because  the  human  mind  cannot  compre- 
hend the  relations  of  time  to  eternity.     But  for  practical 


104  PRAYER  AND  THE  PRAYER-CURE. 

purposes  the  objection  is  absolutely  senseless.  If  God 
has  eternally  decreed  that  you  should  live,  what  is  the 
use  of  your  breathing  ?  If  God  has  eternally  decreed 
that  you  should  talk,  what  is  the  use  of  your  opening 
your  mouth  ?  If  God  has  eternally  decreed  that  you 
should  reap  a  crop,  what  is  the  use  of  your  sowing  the 
seed  ?  If  God  has  eternally  decreed  that  your  stomach 
should  contain  food,  what  is  the  use  of  your  eating? 
Prayer  is  only  one  means  appointed  by  God  for  attaining 
our  ends.  In  order  to  educate  us  he  demands  that  we 
should  use  the  means  or  go  without  the  ends  which  de- 
pend upon  them.  There  are  plenty  of  fools  who  make 
the  transcendental  nature  of  eternity  and  of  the  rela- 
tion of  the  eternal  life  of  God  to  the  time-life  of  man 
an  excuse  for  neglecting  prayer.  But  of  all  the  many 
fools  in  the  United  States,  there  is  not  one  absurd 
enough  to  make  the  same  eternal  decree  an  excuse  for 
not  chewing  his  food  or  for  not  voluntarily  inflating 
his  lungs. 

2.  The  common  difficulties  men  feel  about  the  eternal 
and  unchangeable  decrees  of  God  all  arise  from  the  ab- 
surd mistake  of  conceiving  of  God  as  determining  the 
certain  occurrence  of  a  part  separate  from  the  whole,  of 
an  event  separate  from  the  causes  and  conditions  upon 
which  it  depends.  God's  single  decree  determined  the 
whole  universe  in  all  its  successive  ages  as  one  whole. 
It  has  determined  the  cause  and  condition  as  well  as  the 
event.  If  a  man  will  not  believe,  he  shall  not  be  saved ; 
if  he  will  not  sow,  he  shall  not  reap.  But  if  it  is  de- 
creed that  he  shall  reap,  it  is  just  as  much  decreed  that 
he  shall  sow.  If  it  be  decreed  that  you  shall  have  what 
you  desire,  it  is  decreed  no  less  that  you  shall  pray  for 


PRAYER  AND  THE  PRAYER-CURE.  105 

it,  and  it  is  certain  that  you  will  not  get  it  if  you  do  not 
pray  for  it. 

IV.  But  it  is  objected  that  the  order  of  nature,  the 
uniformities  of  natural  laws,  are  fixed,  and  God  will  not 
violate  them  in  order  to  make  the  whole  course  of  nature 
turn  out  of  its  way,  in  order  to  make  way  for  a  poor 
praying  sinner  like  you  or  me. 

We  answer :  1.  The  whole  order  of  material  nature 
has  been  framed  from  the  beginning  for  the  very  purpose 
of  providing  for  the  mutual  intercourse  of  the  praying 
children  and  of  the  prayer-hearing  Father.  It  is  a  mat- 
ter of  universal  experience  that  earthly  fathers  find  the 
order  of  nature,  when  intelligently  followed,  no  barrier, 
but  the  most  effective  of  conceivable  instruments,  in  pro- 
viding for  the  wants  and  in  answering  the  petitions  of 
their  children.  How  can  the  order  of  nature  be  a 
greater  barrier  to  our  heavenly  Father? 

2.  But  it  is  answered  that  we  can  see  our  earthly 
parents  use  the  order  of  nature  so  as  to  make  it  answer 
our  petitions  and  provide  for  our  wants,  but  we  never 
see  our  heavenly  Father  so  using  nature.  Our  earthly 
parents  leave  their  footprints  while  using  means  in  our 
behalf,  and  in  working  for  us  always  make  chips  which 
prove  their  work.  But  our  heavenly  Father  never 
makes  footprints,  never  leaves  chips,  so  we  have  no 
visible  evidence  that  he  responds  to  our  petitions  or 
acts  through  the  order  of  nature  in  our  behalf. 

We  answer  :  The  sculptor  cuts  the  statue  out  of  the 
block  of  marble,  piece  by  piece,  from  without,  and  so 
makes  chips.  So  earthly  fathers  work  upon  material 
nature  from  without.  But  when  the  vital  principle  of  a 
tree  gathers  nourishment  from  soil  and  air  and  builds  it 


106  PRAYER  AND  THE  PRAYER-CURE. 

up  from  within,  it  leaves  no  footprints  and  makes  no 
chips.  Thus  our  heavenly  Father  acts  not  on  spots  of 
matter  from  without,  but  upon  the  whole  frame  of  ma- 
terial nature  from  within,  and  the  whole  is  as  obedient 
to  his  touch  as  are  the  nerves  of  the  human  body  to  the 
human  spirit  which  inhabits  it. 

All  nature  with  its  mechanical  causes  and  fixed  laws, 
and  all  human  souls  with  their  instincts,  struggles  and 
articulate  cries,  form  part  of  one  eternally-designed  sys- 
tem. Every  prayer  and  every  answer,  every  cause  and 
every  effect,  every  volition  and  every  result,  has  been 
provided  for  from  the  first.  But  the  relation  between 
causes  and  effects  is  never  disturbed.  The  effect  imme- 
diately depends  on  the  cause,  the  answer  immediately  de- 
pends on  the  prayer.  If  we  do  not  work  we  cannot  eat, 
if  we  do  not  eat  we  cannot  live.  If  we  do  not  pray  we 
will  not  gain  what  we  desire. 

V.  What  is  the  testimony  of  human  experience  as  to 
the  actual  fact  of  God's  answering  prayer  for  temporal 
and  material  good  ? 

1.  We  appeal  to  the  universal  instinct  of  prayer  in- 
herent in  men  of  all  races  and  centuries.  We  claim  the 
consent  of  all  false  religions  with  the  true,  and  the  invol- 
untary testimony  of  dying  infidels. 

2.  From  the  nature  of  the  case  the  testimony  of  man- 
kind in  general  on  such  a  subject  is  incompetent.  Any 
scientific  "  prayer-test,"  as  that  proposed  by  Professor 
Tyndall,  is  most  incongruous  to  the  case,  and  therefore 
unphilosophical.  Prayer  is  not  a  physical  cause  ;  it  is  a 
moral  cause.  It  acts  upon  our  heavenly  Father,  dispos- 
ing him  to  attend  to  our  wants  in  the  exercise  of  infinite 
wisdom  and  love,  and  to  use  his  loving  and  wise  discre- 


PRAYER  AND  THE  PRAYER-CURE.  107 

tion  in  complying  with  or  refusing  our  imperfect  desires. 
Who  can  enter  into  this  region  of  intimate  personal  re- 
lations between  the  praying  child  and  the  prayer-hearing 
Father  except  themselves  ?  More  than  a  million  Chris- 
tians prayed  for  the  life  of  President  Garfield.  The 
world  laughed,  and  said  our  Father  did  not  hear  us. 
We  know  that  he  did  hear  and  answer  us  in  the  best 
way  possible :  we  are  completely  satisfied.  Millions  and 
millions  of  spiritual  children  of  God  have  been  cease- 
lessly trusting  him,  praying  to  him  and  proving  him, 
from  Adam  to  Moses,  from  Moses  to  Christ,  from  Christ 
to  the  present.  Our  Father  knows  our  hearts  :  we  know 
and  he  knows  the  real  meaning  of  our  prayers.  We 
know  our  Father's  heart :  we  know  that  when  we  were 
"  in  distress  we  called  upon  him,  and  he  answered  us  and 
set  us  in  a  large  place."  The  Christian  is  satisfied  with 
what  he  knows  as  to  the  confidential  relations  between 
his  prayer-hearing  Father  and  himself.  He  can  well 
afford  to  smile  with  pity  when  the  stranger  to  the  house- 
hold criticises  his  Father's  faithfulness  and  tries  to  con- 
vince the  child  against  the  witness  of  his  own  conscious- 
ness that  his  Father  does  not  hear  and  answer  his  prayers. 
What  can  the  stranger  know  about  it?  He  has  never 
truly  prayed,  and  therefore  he  has  never  experienced  any 
answer  to  prayer.  Would  it  not  be  more  scientific  if 
these  agnostic  critics  should  confine  their  remarks  to  the 
sphere  of  their  own  experience? 

VI.  Let  us  apply  these  principles  to  the  subject  of  the 
modern  doctrine  of  "  prayer-cure." 

It  appears  to  me  that  we  have  settled  this  subject 
pretty  clearly  already. 

1.  All  Christians  must  agree  with  our  friends  of  the 


108  FRAYER  AND  THE  PRAYER-CURE. 

"  prayer-cure  "  that  it  is  our  privilege  and  duty  to  pray 
for  the  healing;  of  our  bodies  and  the  maintenance  of  our 
bodily  health,  just  as  it  is  for  us  to  pray  for  any  other 
material  and  temporal  blessing.  If  we  pray  aright  the 
true  prayer  of  faith  (which  includes  submission  as  well 
as  confidence,  for  confidence  without,  submission  is  pre- 
sumption and  not  faith),  if  we  pray  the  true  prayer  of 
faith,  God  will  certainly  answer,  and  either  give  us  the 
very  healing  we  ask  when  and  as  we  ask  it ;  or  if  it  be 
wiser  and  kinder  will  give  us  the  same  health  at  a  differ- 
ent time  and  in  a  different  manner  ;  or,  if  he  sees  it  to  be 
kinder  and  wiser,  he  will  give  us  something  far  better, 
something  we  would  ourselves  much  prefer  if  we  had 
the  eyes  to  see  as  God  sees. 

But  in  order  that  our  prayer  be  indeed  the  true  prayer 
of  faith,  we  who  pray  must  be  reconciled  to  God,  we 
must  seek  only  through  the  merit  and  mediation  of 
Christ,  Ave  must  pray  for  and  desire  health  only  subject 
to  the  infinitely  wiser  and  juster  will  of  God,  and,  finally, 
we  must  meantime  seek  for  and  use  diligently  all  the 
means  which  Providence  makes  available  to  us  in  our 
actual  circumstances.  No  believing  Christian  will  use 
means  without  praying  for  God's  guidance  in  their  se- 
lection and  for  blessing  on  their  use.  If  he  does  he  will 
not  be  really  blessed.  Just  so,  no  sensible  Christian  will 
pray  for  the  cure  of  his  diseases  without  using  all  the 
means  available.  If  he  does,  he  mocks  God,  and  God 
will  mock  him  as  sure  as  he  lives. 

2.  But  our  "  faith-cure  "  friends  differ  from  us  in  the 
following  points,  in  which  they  are  dangerously  wrong  • 

(1)  They  hold  that  all  sickness  is  the  immediate  pun- 
ishment of  some  particular  sinful  act  or  state  of  some 


PRAYER  AND  THE  PRAYER-CURE.  109 

of  the  persons  directly  or  indirectly  concerned.  We 
admit  that,  in  general,  sickness  is  a  consequence  of  sin. 
If  there  had  been  no  sin  there  had  been  no  sickness. 
But  we  deny  utterly  that  in  the  case  of  Christians,  whose 
sins  are  pardoned  for  Christ's  sake,  sickness  is  any  part 
of  the  punishment  of  sin.  It  is  always,  in  the  Chris- 
tian's experience,  a  fatherly  chastisement — a  proof  of 
love  for  our  good,  not  a  mark  of  anger  or  displeasure 
for  sin.  "  Whom  the  Father  loveth  he  chasteneth,  and 
scourgeth  every  son  whom  he  receiveth."  Some  of  the 
holiest  saints  have  been  the  greatest  sufferers  and  for  the 
longest  time.  No  true  Christian  would  be  impatient ; 
he  would  rather  kiss  the  rod ;  he  would  rather  take  up 
his  cross  daily  and  follow  Christ.  Nor  would  any  true 
Christian  change  his  cross  if  he  could.  I  would  infin- 
itely rather  suffer  the  worst  sickness  my  heavenly  Father 
sends  than  be  cured  at  once  by  the  help  of  those  who  re- 
gard sickness  as  a  proof  of  want  of  faith  or  as  evidence 
of  God's  displeasure. 

(2)  These  brethren  appear  to  demand  the  cure  of  the 
disease  in  every  case  unconditionally.  They  say  if  the 
disease  is  not  removed  it  proves  that  the  sick  man  lacked 
faith.  But  continued  disease  is  not  a  siarn  of  the  divine 
displeasure  on  account  of  sin ;  and  faith,  as  we  have 
shown,  submits  to  God's  will  as  well  as  trusts  his  grace. 
It  always  says,  "  Not  as  I  will,  but  as  thou  wilt."  Con- 
fidence without  submission  is  the  most  offensive  form  of 
unbelief  that  disgraces  man  or  offends  God. 

(3)  These  "  faith-cure "  friends  err  in  praying  while 
refusing  to  use  properly  God's  appointed  means  to  secure 
the  health  they  desire.  We  have  shown  this  to  be  al- 
ways and  everywhere  unwarranted.    It  is  the  very  spirit 


110  PRAYER  AND  THE  PRAYER-CURE. 

of  restless  disobedience.  It  is  a  refusal  to  submit  to 
God's  method.  It  springs  from  a  spiritual  pride  which 
aspires  to  subdue  the  infinite  God  to  their  service  and 
make  him  and  his  infinite  power  the  poor  instruments 
of  their  own  will.  The  specific  difference  of  a  miracle 
is  that  it  is  wrought  without  means.  The  specific  differ- 
ence of  a  providential  answer  to  prayer  is  that  it  is 
wrought  as  a  blessing  upon  means  religiously  employed. 
The  working  of  miracles,  not  as  evidence  of  a  divine 
commission,  but  for  private  good,  is  unwarranted  and  is 
a  temptation  to  evil.  When  Christ,  having  fasted  forty 
days,  was  an-hungered,  the  tempter  came  to  him  and 
said,  "  If  thou  be  the  Son  of  God,  command  that  these 
stones  be  made  bread."     Christ  of  course  refused. 

(4)  Our  brethren  of  the  "  faith-cure "  differ  from  us 
in  maintaining  not  merely  that  God  may  work  miracles 
now  if  he  pleases — which,  of  course,  none  of  us  deny — 
but  that  God  may  as  reasonably  be  expected  to  work 
miracles  upon  our  call  now  as  in  the  days  of  the  apos- 
tles. 

Answer  :  A.  We  have  shown  that  a  frequent  and  pro- 
miscuous occurrence  of  miracle  would  (a)  defeat  the  pur- 
pose for  which  the  frame  of  nature  has  been  erected  by 
God  and  confuse  all  our  relations  to  him,  and  (6)  would 
destroy  the  evidential  force  of  miracles  themselves,  ob- 
scure the  manifestation  of  God  and  lead  to  utter  confu- 
sion of  thought  and  of  faith.  Miracles  are  not  to  be 
rationally  desired  except  in  connection  with  the  promul- 
gation of  a  new  religion.  The  reason  of  the  prevalent 
infidelity  in  the  present  day  is  not  the  deficiency  of  the 
evidence,  nor  would  it  be  removed  by  more  evidence. 
The  ground  of  unbelief  is  the  evil   heart,  the  moral 


PRAYER  AND  THE  PRAYER-CURE.  Ill 

alienation  of  man  from  God.  It  can  be  removed  only 
by  the  demonstration  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  This  was 
Christ's  opinion.  He  makes  Abraham  say  to  Dives 
concerning  his  wicked  brethren,  "  They  have  Moses  and 
the  prophets,  let  them  hear  them.  ...  If  they  hear  not 
Moses  and  the  prophets,  neither  will  they  be  persuaded, 
though  one  rose  from  the  dead  "  (Luke  16  :  29-31).  The 
overwhelming  preponderance  of  opinion  among  the  in- 
telligent Protestant  churches  affirms  that  miracles,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  ceased  with  the  initial  struggles  for  life  of 
the  early  Church,  about  the  close  of  the  apostolic  Church. 

B.  The  modern  faith-cure  miracles  all  belong  to  the 
same  class  with  the  Roman  Catholic  miracles  of  the  me- 
diaeval Church.  There  is  just  as  much  testimony,  borne 
by  as  many  persons — and  persons  every  whit  as  intelli- 
gent, disinterested  and  pious — to  those  mediaeval  as  to 
any  or  all  of  these  modern  miracles.  And  yet  these 
have  all  been  rejected  by  the  unanimous  voice  of  intelli- 
gent Protestantism  on  grounds  which,  in  every  particular, 
apply  with  equal  force  to  the  case  of  the  modern  mir- 
acles of  the  so-called  "  faith-cure."  These  are — (a)  that 
they  were  not  wrought  to  establish  a  new  religion  or  to 
authenticate  prophets  sent  immediately  from  God,  and 
were  therefore  inconsequent  and  purposeless ;  (b)  they 
were  associated  with  a  mass  of  unscriptural  assumptions 
and  superstitions ;  (c)  they  were  wrought  by  men  who 
lacked  prophetical  dignity  and  character,  and  were  wit- 
nessed only  by  unbalanced  enthusiasts ;  (d)  the  works 
themselves  lacked  the  simplicity  and  dignity  which 
are  the  common  character  of  divine  acts. 

(5)  Our  "  faith-cure  "  friends  base  their  doctrine  upon 
the  facts  («)  that  in  the  Scriptures  sin  is  symbolically  rep- 


112  PRAYER  AND  THE  PRAYER-CURE. 

resented  by  disease,  and  so  Christ  is  represented  as  hav- 
ing vicariously  borne  for  us  our  "sicknesses."     Answer: 
So  he  tasted  death  for  every  man.    To  be  consistent  they 
should  provide  by  faith  that  no  man  should  die.     (6) 
They  base  their  doctrine  on  the  fact  that  miracles  of 
healing  were   undoubtedly  wrought   during  the  entire 
first,  and  perhaps  the  second,  generation  of  the  apostolic 
Church,  and  that  the  apostle  James  (James  5  :  14)  in- 
structed the  elders  of  the  Church  to  anoint  the  sick  and 
pray  for  his  healing,  with  the  expectation  of  his  conse- 
quent  recovery.     Answer:   In   reply  to   this  we   have 
only  to  say  that  they  have  no  right  to  separate  one  part 
of  the  supernatural  life  of  the  early  Church  from  the 
rest.     The  charismata  of  the  apostolic  period  were  an 
associated  and  inseparable  system  of  supernatural  gifts, 
designed  to  authenticate  the  truth  of  the  new  religion 
and  to  confirm  its  grasp  on  the  heathen  communities. 
These  included  gifts  of  supernatural  knowledge,  of  heal- 
ing, of  government,   of  tongues  and  of  interpretation, 
etc.     They  prophesied,  they  spoke  with  tongues,  they 
interpreted,  they  worked  divers  miracles,  they  reigned 
over  the  Church  of  Christ  in  his  name.     By  the  unani- 
mous consent  of  the  educated  and  evangelical  Church 
these  charismata  have  ceased  for  almost  eighteen  hundred 
years.     The  anointing  of  the  sick  by  the  elders,  recom- 
mended by  James,  survives  in  the  sacrament  of  extreme 
unction  of  the  Catholic  Church.     This  proves  that  the 
ancient  and  mediaeval  as  well  as  the   modern  Church 
ceased  to  expect  that  this  anointing  and  prayer  would 
effect  the  miraculous  healing  of  the  sick.     If  after  so 
long  an  interval  the  charismata  of  the  early  Church  are 
to  be  received,  all  reason  and  consistency  require  that 


PRAYER  AND  THE  PRAYER-CURE.  113 

the  entire  system  should  be  revived  in  its  integrity.  This 
Edward  Irving  honestly  did  in  London  (cireum  1834) 
when  he  founded  the  "  Catholic  Apostolic  Church."  He 
had  apostles,  prophets  and  evangelists.  They  spoke 
with  tongues,  prophesied,  interpreted,  wrought  miracles, 
appointed  "  angels  "  in  all  the  churches.  Since  that  date 
they  have  been  silent  again.  If  our  "faith-cure"  friends 
desire  Bible  students  to  recognize  their  modern  doctrine 
as  standing  upon  a  biblical  basis  of  precedent,  they  should 
erect  the  whole  platform  and  restore  the  era  of  miracles 
intact.  When  they  do  this  we  will  promise  a  reinvesti- 
gation of  their  claims. 

(6)  Our  faith-  or  prayer-cure  friends  differ  from  us 
widely  in  the  value  they  put  upon  the  testimony  estab- 
lishing the  facts  they  cite  in  confirmation  of  their  prin- 
ciple. The  precise  point  in  debate  between  us  should  be 
constantly  kept  distinctly  before  our  minds.  We  believe 
with  all  our  hearts  that  God  answers  the  prayer  of 
faith  in  behalf  of  sick  and  suffering  Christians,  and  that 
he  brings  relief  (a)  by  directing  them  in  the  wise  and 
profitable  use  of  appointed  means,  and  (6)  in  giving 
efficiency  to  the  means  used.  But  we  deny  that  God 
authorizes  us  to  expect  him  to  heal  our  diseases  mirac- 
ulously; that  is,  in  open  neglect  of  available  means. 
They  cite  a  vast  and  ever-accumulating  number  of  cases 
in  which  they  claim  that  God  has  in  answer  to  prayer 
permanently  healed  real  and  persistent  diseases  without 
the  use  of  any  means.  We  heartily  acknowledge  their 
honesty  and  the  sincerity  of  their  convictions,  but  we  do 
not  have  an  atom  of  confidence  in  the  validity  of  their 
conclusions. 

The  Rev.   J.  M.   Buckley,  D.  D.,   in   his  admirable 

8 


114  PRAYER  AND   THE  PRAYER-CURE. 

article  on  "  Faith-Healing  and  Kindred  Phenomena/'  * 
shows  that  this  question  of  evidence  falls  under  two 
heads:  (a)  What  are  the  real  facts?  and  {b)  What  is  the 
true  explanation  of  these  facts? 

(a)  The  evidence  with  regard  to  the  facts  is  unsifted, 
uncritical  and  utterly  unsatisfactory.     There  have  been, 
indeed,  many  cases  of  sick  people  who  have  become  ap- 
parently, and  some  really,  well  without  the  use  of  any 
medicine  and  in  connection  with  the  prayers  of  these  ad- 
vocates of  the  "faith-cure"  principle.     But  many  dis- 
eases are  self-limiting  and  tend  to  cure  naturally.     The 
reported  cures  in  a  great  many  cases  have  turned  out  to 
be  temporary,  and  have  been  followed  by  relapse.     In 
all  cases  of  internal  disease,  where  the  mischief  is  out  of 
sight,  the  diagnosis  even  of  the  most  learned  and  skillful 
doctors  is  notoriously  uncertain,  and  the  non-professional 
judgment  as  to  the  nature  of  the  disease  on  which  this 
evidence  is  taken  is  utterly  unworthy  of  respect.     The 
diseases  cured  never  have  been  proved  to  be  other  than 
nervous,  and  in  most  cases  they  are  easily  recognized  as 
such.     In  many  cases  other  means  have  been  previously 
if  not  secretly  used,  while  only  the  fact  of  the  prayer  is 
mentioned.     Besides,  these   brethren  report  only  what 
they  believe  to  be  their  successful  cases.    They  say  noth- 
ing of  their  failures,  which  are  known  to  be  far  more 
numerous.    It  is  necessary  in  order  to  maintain  the  logic 
of  their  position  that  there  should  be  no  failures,  because 
they  pledge  God— nothing  is  impossible  to  God.     But 
their  failures  are  innumerable. 

All  this  amounts  to  no  more  than  can  be  validly 
claimed  by  any  one  of  hundreds  of  advertised  patent 
*  The  Century  Magazine,  June,  1886. 


PRAYER  AND  THE  PRAYER-CURE.  115 

medicines;  the  history  of  which  patent  medicines  as  a 
class  has  justly  put  them  all  under  the  ban  of  both  sci- 
ence and  religion,  meddling  in  which  is  unworthy  alike 
of  the  gentleman  and  the  Christian. 

(b)  Dr.  Buckley  demonstrates  that  all  the  alleged  foots 
in  relation  to  the  faith-cure  which  remain  after  an  intel- 
ligent sifting  can  be  accounted  for  easily  in  connection 
with  myriad  kindred  facts  illustrating  the  power  of  the 
mind  over  the  body;  that  when  the  attention  is  concen- 
trated upon  any  part  of  the  body,  and  when  faith  is  ex- 
ercised and  strong  expectation  excited,  with  or  without 
any  religious  reference,  the  most  wonderful  effects  may 
be  produced;  that  this  is  not  a  proof  of  specific  answer 
to  prayer,  but  of  the  far  more  general  fact  of  the  power 
of  mind  over  body. 

In  the  case  of  the  miracles  of  our  Lord  and  his  apos- 
tles there  were  uo  failures.     The  dead  were  raised  and 
men  born  blind  were  made  to  see.     Let  the  advocates  of 
these  modern  miracles  conform  to  the  same  conditions. 
Let  them  cure  in  every  case.     Let  them  take  cases  in 
which  there  can  be  no  question  as  to  the  previous  state 
of  the  subject;  i.  e.  let  him  be  dead  four  days  in  hot 
weather,  or  be  totally  blind  from  birth  to  middle  age,  or 
let  them  restore  lost  arms  or  legs  or  teeth.     When&they 
show  any  disposition  to  submit  to  the  ordinary  common- 
sense  tests  of  truth  that  all  men  apply  to  similar  cases  in 
worldly  business,  their  fellow-Christians  will  be  ready  to 
discuss  the  evidence  with  them  upon  equal  terms. 

These  our  brethren  are  to  be  loved  in  so  far  as  they 
trust  and  strive  to  exalt  Christ,  but  the  contagion  of  their 
spirit  and  example  is  to  be  spurned  as  fraught  with 
much  danger.      Inflated  self-consciousness  accompanies 


116  PRAYER  AND   THE  PRAYER-CURE. 

all  religious  enthusiasms  which  are  not  grounded  on 
Scripture  and  controlled  by  sanctified  common  sense. 
The  invariable  history  of  all  such  epidemics  of  unwar- 
ranted faith  is  that  the  reaction  which  necessarily  follows 
ultimate  disillusionment  issues  in  malignant  unbelief. 


LECTURE   VI. 

THE  TRINITY  OF  PERSONS  IN  THE  GODHEAD. 

We  are  to  discuss  this  afternoon  the  revelation  which 
God  has  made  of  himself  in  his  inspired  Word  as  three 
Persons.  This  we  must  do  with  bowed  heads  and  rev- 
erent hearts,  for  the  ground  on  which  we  stand  is  holy. 
The  subject  is  transcendently  sacred  :  it  is  the  infinitely 
righteous  and  majestic  God.  It  is  immeasurably  import- 
ant as  the  foundation  of  all  knowledge  and  faith.  And 
for  all  our  knowledge  relating  to  it  we  are  absolutely 
shut  up  to  the  matter  which  God  himself  has  given  us 
in  his  self-revelation  in  his  Word.  Consciousness,  ex- 
perience, observation  or  speculation  cannot  in  this  exalted 
sphere  advance  our  knowledge  one  scintilla.  We  can 
know  only  just  as  much  of  this  subject  of  the  Trinity  as 
is  definitely  set  forth  in  the  Bible,  and  no  more.  Our 
office  here  is  that,  simply,  of  humble  disciples — to  ob- 
serve and  interpret  the  self-exhibition  of  the  Triune  God 
in  Scripture. 

This  doctrine  is  properly  a  "  mystery,"  and  it  is  often 
by  people  not  fully  learned  disparaged  as  such.  These 
mistakenly  understand  by  "  mystery  "  some  fact  or  prin- 
ciple of  which  we  can  have  only  a  very  vague  notion — 
a  sphere  of  assumption  or  of  half-perceived  shadow,  in 
relation  to  which  certainty  is  impossible,  and  which  has 
no  logical  or  practical  relation  to  the  great  solid  continent 

117 


118  THE  TRINITY  OF  PERSONS 

of  human  knowledge  and  of  real  life.  But,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  true  meaning  of  the  word  "  mystery  "  is  that 
which  cannot  be  known  through  the  processes  of  discov- 
ery or  invention,  or  of  speculation,  but  which  can  be  made 
known  only  by  revelation,  and  so  far  forth  only  as  un- 
veiled. Such  were  the  secrets  of  the  Greek  societies, 
which  were  known  only  as  they  were  discovered  to  the 
initiated,  as  the  Eleusiniau  Mysteries,  and  those  of  the 
Masonic  fraternity  and  of  all  the  modern  secret  so- 
cieties. 

But  when  these  otherwise  undiscoverable  secrets  are 
once  revealed,  then  just  so  far  forth  as  they  have  been 
disclosed  they  become  part  of  the  real  knowledge  of 
those  to  whom  the  revelation  has  been  made ;  as  much 
so  as  any  other  knowledge  whatsoever  which  they  pos- 
sess, howsoever  it  may  have  been  attained. 

It  is  plain  that  as  God  is  the  Creator  of  all  things,  he 
must  be  the  ultimate  ground  and  centre  of  all  things. 
Therefore  our  knowledge  of  God,  no  matter  how  we 
have  gained  it,  must  be  fundamental  and  central  to  all 
our  other  knowledge  of  every  kind.  The  fundamental 
questions  in  all  science  and  philosophy,  as  well  as  in  all 
religion,  must  always  be — (1)  Is  there  a  God?  (2) 
What  is  God  ?  (3)  What  relations  does  he  sustain  to 
the  universe  ?  The  biblical  answer  to  the  second  ques- 
tion includes  two  grand  divisions :  The  nature  of  God  is 
in  the  Scriptures  revealed  (1)  through  the  attributes  or 
energies,  the  perfections,  of  his  essence  as  an  infinite, 
rational  and  righteous  Spirit ;  (2)  as  eternally  existing  as 
three  Persons,  one  in  substance,  in  the  most  intimate 
unity  of  thought  and  purpose.  It  is  evident  that  if  it 
is  true  that  God  does  eternally  exist  as  three  Persons, 


IN  THE  GODHEAD.  119 

that  fact  must  underlie  and  give  shape  to  all  his  counsels 
and  to  all  his  works  in  their  execution.  It  must  control 
his  method  of  working  in  all  spheres  of  creation  and  of 
providence  and  of  grace ;  so  that  this  doctrine,  if  true, 
is  a  necessary  postulate  of  all  philosophy  and  of  all  sci- 
ence, as  well  as  of  all  religion. 

We  affirm  that,  instead  of  this  threefold  personality 
of  God  as  taught  in  Scripture  being  a  burden  to  our  faith 
and  a  mere  puzzle  to  our  understanding,  it  is,  of  all  views 
of  God  ever  presented  to  human  consciousness,  the  most 
symmetrical  and  harmonious,  the  most  satisfactory  to  the 
reason,  the  one  which  renders  the  moral  perfections  of 
God  the  most  comprehensible,  the  one  which  brings  him 
most  nearly  within  the  sphere  of  human  sympathy ; 
which  is  the  most  profound  and  fruitful  in  important 
consequences ;  which  is  the  most  practical  in  its  applica- 
tions within  the  sphere  of  man's  religious  experience 
and  duty. 

I.  In  maintaining  that  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  as 
held  in  common  by  the  entire  historical  Christian  Church, 
is  conformable  to  right  reason  we  are  mindful  of  the  lim- 
ited sphere  of  reason  in  relation  to  such  questions,  and 
of  its  liability  to  be  abused.  The  frequent  and  disas- 
trous abuse  of  reason  has  arisen  (1)  from  its  being  made 
the  source  of  all  knowledge  in  relation  to  things  concern- 
ing  which  we  are  entirely  dependent  upon  a  direct  divine 
revelation  ;  and  (2)  from  its  being  made  the  measure  and 
standard  of  that  which  transcends  its  measure,  and  which 
rests  alone  upon  the  authority  of  God.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  important  and  necessary  use  of  reason  in  such 
a  study  is  (1)  to  apprehend  the  truth  as  the  eye  appre- 
hends light ;  (2)  to  study  and  judge  of  the  evidences  or 


120  THE  TRINITY  OF  PERSONS 

credentials  of  the  revelation  claiming  to  be  divine ;  and 
(3)  to  judge  of  contradictions  if  any  such  are  involved. 
There  is  an  evident  difference  between  that  which  is 
against  reason  or  irrational,  which  can  never  be  rightly- 
believed,  and  that  which  is  above  reason,  which  all  men 
do  believe  every  day.  The  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  is 
above  reason  in  respect  to  the  facts  (1)  that  it  never  could 
have  been  discovered,  but  rests  entirely  upon  the  author- 
ity of  revelation  ;  (2)  that  it  cannot  be  fully  understood 
or  explained ;  (3)  that,  like  other  data  of  revelation,  it 
leads  out  into  the  region  which  transcends  our  knowledge 
on  every  side.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  this  doctrine  in- 
volves no  element  which  contradicts  reason.  On  the 
contrary,  when  received  as  presented  in  Scripture  it  is 
eminently  agreeable  to  reason.  It  is  found  to  coalesce 
harmoniously  with  all  other  known  truths,  and,  above 
all,  it  is  fouud  to  harmonize  with  the  most  profound  and 
fruitful  religious  experience.  Truly  our  fellowship  is 
not  only  "  with  the  Father,"  but  equally  with  "  his  Son 
Jesus  Christ"  and  with  the  Holy  Ghost.  And  every 
experienced  Christian  has  an  experimental  knowledge  of 
his  relations  to  each  divine  Person. 

II.  The  Scriptural  Presentation  of  this  Doctrine. — 
The  entire  Old  and  New  Testaments  are  throughout 
perfectly  in  agreement  as  to  the  view  which  they  present 
of  the  threefold  personality  of  God.  This  disclosure 
is  gradual  and  cumulative.  The  earlier  instructions  were 
so  vague  that,  taken  by  themselves,  they  would  never 
have  suggested  what  we  now  signify  by  the  term  "  trin- 
ity of  persons  in  the  unity  of  the  Godhead."  But  when 
the  testimony  of  the  Gospels  and  of  the  Epistles  is  gath- 
ered, and  the  light  furnished  is  thrown  back  over  the  pre- 


IN  THE  GODHEAD.  121 

vious  records  of  revelation,  the  obscure  hint  in  the  Old 
Testament  is  found  to  coincide  fully  with  the  fuller  de- 
lineation in  the  New.  It  is  one  subject  disclosed  through 
a  gradual  process,  unfolding  itself  continuously  in  the 
ever-increasing  light.  Taking  the  sum  of  these  com- 
pleted revelations  together,  we  find  Scripture  clearly  es- 
tablishing the  following  points : 

1st.  There  is  only  one  God.  The  testimony  of  Script- 
ure here  absolutely  accords  with  the  witness  of  our  con- 
sciences, and  with  the  obvious  unity  of  the  universe  in  all 
its  provinces  and  successions.  There  is  but  one  plan, 
and  but  a  single  administration — but  one  sovereign  au- 
thority either  over  consciences  or  worlds.  There  is  but 
one  infinite,  self-existent  Spirit,  who  reveals  himself  as 
the  I  am,  from  whom,  and  through  whom,  and  to  whom 
are  all  things.  The  three  Persons  are  declared  to  be 
one,  identical  in  substance,  one  in  the  depths  of  a  com- 
mon consciousness,  one  in  thought  and  purpose,  and 
equal  in  power  and  glory.  This  is  a  Trinitarian  unity, 
which  is  moral  and  full  of  life,  not  a  barren,  non-ethical 
Unitarian  oneness,  which  has  no  significance  to  our  un- 
derstandings nor  attraction  to  our  hearts. 

2d.  The  Scriptures  teach  with  equal  clearness  that 
"  Father/'  "  Son  "  and  "  Holy  Ghost "  are  that  one  God. 
In  the  case  of  the  Father  no  one  doubts  that  he  is  that 
one  God.  In  the  case  of  the  Son  it  is  taught  throughout 
the  Scriptures  in  every  possible  form  of  suggestion  and 
of  assertion.  Divine  names  and  titles,  attributes,  pre- 
rogatives, works  and  worship  are  ascribed  to  him  con- 
stantly. He  is  declared  to  be  God,  and  from  eternity 
to  have  been  with  God — to  be  one  with  the  Father,  and 
to  be  in  the  Father  and  the  Father  in  him,  so  that  he 


122  THE  TRINITY  OF  PERSONS 

that  hath  seen  the  Sou  hath  seeu  the  Father.  In  the 
case  of  the  Holy  Ghost  the  fact  that  he  is  divine  is  not 
questioned ;  the  only  point  of  doubt  with  any  is  as  to  his 
distinct  personality.  But  Christ  applies  to  him  the  pro- 
nouns "he"  and  "him,"  and  ascribes  to  him  distinct  per- 
sonal will,  sensibility,  relations  and  agency,  and  the  in- 
spired apostles  enroll  his  name  with  that  of  the  Father 
and  the  Son  as  a  distinct  and  equal  constituent  with  them 
of  the  one  Godhead. 

3d.  But  these  titles,  Father,  Sou  aud  Holy  Ghost,  all 
applied  equally  to  the  one  God,  are  not  mere  differing 
titles  of  the  same  subject,  as  when  God  is  called  alter- 
uately  Creator,  Preserver  or  Father,  but  they  are  the 
several  titles  of  three  different  subjects  or  distinct  per- 
sons. We  can  know  God  only  as  his  self-revelation  pre- 
sents him  in  his  inspired  Word.  This  Word  is  a  history 
iu  which  God  is  set  forth  as  acting  in  the  creation  of  the 
world  and  of  men,  in  the  providential  and  moral  govern- 
ment of  the  world  and  of  men,  and  especially  in  the  re- 
demption of  sinful  men.  In  all  these  spheres  of  action 
God  is  represented  as  acting,  speaking,  hearing,  judging. 
He  stands  before  man  face  to  face ;  he  speaks  to  us,  and 
we  hear  him ;  we  speak  to  him,  and  he  hears  us.  We 
regard  him  as  an  object  of  reverence  and  love,  and  he 
regards  us  with  affections  determined  by  our  characters 
and  personal  relations  to  him. 

In  precisely  the  same  manner  the  Father  stands  face 
to  face  with  the  Son  as  another  person  having  distinct 
self-consciousness.  They  each  look  upon  the  other  as  a 
distinct  object  of  love  and  thought.  They  each  act  upon 
the  other  as  distinct  agents.  They  use  in  reference  to 
each  other  all  cases  of  the  personal   pronouns.     The 


IN  THE  GODHEAD.  123 

Father  loves  the  Son,  speaks  to  him,  speaks  of  him, 
gives  him  commandment,  promises  a  reward  for  action, 
sends  him  and  receives  him  when  he  returns.  The  Son 
loves  the  Father,  speaks  to  him,  receives  his  commission, 
returns  to  him  and  claims  his  reward.  The  Holy  Ghost 
is  sent  by  the  Father  and  by  the  Son,  acts  for  them  as 
their  agent,  speaking  of  them,  not  of  himself,  and  dis- 
tributing their  grace  to  men  severally  as  he  wills.  The 
several  functions  of  the  divinity  in  relation  to  the  uni- 
verse in  creation,  providence  and  redemption  are  distrib- 
uted severally  between  these  three  as  between  separate 
though  perfectly  united  and  sympathizing  agents. 

4th.  As  to  their  mutual  relations,  of  course  we  can 
know  only  the  surface.  There  must  be  infinite  depths 
in  the  conscious  being  of  God  to  which  no  created 
thought  can  penetrate.  It  is  plain,  in  the  revelation  God 
has  made  of  himself  in  the  history  of  redemption  and 
in  the  record  of  it,  that  he  exists  eternally  and  constitu- 
tionally as  three  self-conscious  Persons.  But  for  aught 
we  can  know,  in  the  depths  of  this  infinite  Being  there 
may  be  a  common  consciousness  which  includes  the 
whole  Godhead,  and  a  common  personality.  This  may 
all  be  true ;  but  what  belongs  to  us  to  deal  with  is  the 
sure  and  obvious  fact  of  revelation,  that  God  exists  from 
eternity  as  three  self-conscious  Persons,  the  Father,  Son 
and  Holy  Ghost,  and  that  these  sustain  the  following 
relations : 

(1.)  They  all  are  modes  of  existence  of  one  indivisible 
spiritual  substance.     "  They  are  the  same  in  substance." 

(2.)  Hence  they  must  be  essentially  equal  in  power  and 
dignity  and  glory.  There  can  be  no  temporal  pre-exist- 
ence,  no  dependence  of  one  upon  the  will  of  the  other, 


124  THE  TRINITY  OF  PERSONS 

no  superior  authority  to  which  the  others  are  subject. 
Therefore  they  are  to  be  regarded  and  treated  by  all 
their  creatures  with  equal  love,  gratitude,  reverence,  con- 
fidence and  obedience. 

(3.)  Nevertheless,  the  Bible  discovers  a  fixed  order  of 
existence  and  of  operation  between  them.  As  to  exist- 
ence, the  Father  is  first,  the  Son  second,  and  the  Spirit 
third.  This  order  is  of  course  not  chronological,  since 
all  are  alike  eternal,  but  one  of  origin  and  consequence. 

The  Father  eternally  "  begets  "  the  Son,  and  the  Spirit 
eternally  "  proceeds  from "  the  Father  and  the  Son. 
Hence  the  second  Person  is  eternally  the  "  Son  "  of  the 
Father,  who  begets  him,  and  the  third  Person  is  eter- 
nally "  the  Spirit,"  or  breath  of  the  Father  and  of  the 
Son,  from  whom  he  proceeds.  The  order  of  operation 
also  from  God  outward  on  his  creatures  is  the  same. 
The  Father  is  the  source  of  all  movement.  To  him  the 
decrees  are  principally  referred  in  Scripture.  He  sends 
the  Son,  and  the  Father  and  the  Son  send  the  Spirit.  In 
creation  and  providence  all  movement  is  habitually  rep- 
resented in  Scripture  as  from  the  Father,  through  the  Son 
and  by  the  Spirit.  And  in  the  return  of  man  to  God 
through  the  method  of  redemption  it  is  always  to  the 
Father,  through  the  Son,  by  the  Spirit  (Eph.  2  :  18). 

(4.)  The  terms  "  Father  "  and  "  Son  "  are  reciprocal. 
We  know  these  divine  Persons  in  their  personal  distinc- 
tions and  relations  only  so  far  as  these  are  signified  by 
these  relative  terms.  The  distinction  of  the  personality 
of  the  first  Person  is  that  he  is  eternally  the  Father  of 
the  second  Person ;  and  the  personal  distinction  of  the 
second  Person  is  that  he  is  eternally  the  Son  of  the  first. 
The  personal  titles  of  the  second  Person  mutually  throw 


IN  THE  GODHEAD.  125 

light  on  one  another.  These  are :  6  Xbyoz,  the  Word  ; 
b  u!6c,  the  Son ;  6  povoyevyz,  the  Only-begotten ;  ecxwv 
too  deou  too  dopdro'u,  rrpcovdvoxo^  ndarjQ  xrcaecoz,  the 
image  of  the  invisible  God,  the  first-born  of  all  creation ; 
dnauyaapta  r^c  ob^c,  auTou,  the  radiancy  of  his  glory ; 
and  %apaxvr]p  r^c  bitoavdaeax;  abroo,  the  very  image  of 
his  substance. 

This  divine  Person,  so  designated  as  to  his  eternal  and 
essential  personal  relations  to  the  Father,  has  become  in- 
carnate by  taking  into  his  personality  a  germinant  human 
nature  in  the  womb  of  the  Virgin  Mary.  Thus  an 
eternal  divine  Person  embraces  in  the  unity  of  the  one 
person  a  perfect  human  nature,  so  that  he  is  both  God 
and  man  in  two  distinct  natures,  and  one  person  for  ever. 
This  seems  impossible.  Nevertheless,  it  is  an  historical 
fact.  We  know  that  the  one  individual  person,  Jesus  of 
Nazareth,  was,  and  ever  continues  to  be,  at  once  perfect 
God  and  perfect  man. 

There  is  no  more  contrariety  between  the  essential 
properties  of  the  two  natures  than  between  matter  and 
spirit.  In  our  own  persons — which  we  are  certain  are 
one  and  indivisible — we  embrace  both  of  these  opposite 
substances  in  one.  No  act  of  consciousness,  no  analysis 
by  microscope  or  chemical  reagents,  nor  by  knife,  can 
penetrate  to  the  dividing-line  between  soul  and  spirit. 
Both  substances  spontaneously  conspire  in  one  energy 
and  coalesce  in  one  consciousness.  In  some  way  like 
this  the  divine  Spirit  has  penetrated  the  human  nature 
and  made  it  the  obedient  organ  of  its  central  personality. 
And  everything  done  by  him  in  execution  of  his  media- 
torial offices  is  due  to  the  co-operating  energies  of  both 
natures,  divine  and  human. 


126  THE  TRINITY  OF  PERSONS 

There  is  uo  fourth  Person  added  to  the  Trinity.  The 
eternal  second  Person  remains  the  same.  On  the  inner 
side,  that  he  presents  to  the  Father  and  to  the  Holy 
Ghost,  he  is  the  same  immutable  divine  Person.  On  the 
outer  side,  that  he  presents  to  mankind,  the  eternal  Word 
has  come  down  into  time  and  space,  and  become  visible 
and  audible  and  tangible  to  us  in  the  human  nature  he 
has  taken  into  his  Person.  In  him  dwelleth  all  the  full- 
ness of  the  Godhead  bodily,  so  that  the  apostles  "  heard 
it/'  and  "  saw  it  with  their  eyes/'  and  "  handled  it  with 
their  hands  "  (1  John  1:1;  Col.  2  :  9). 

(5.)  The  eternal  third  Person  of  the  Trinity  is  always 
third  in  order.  He  proceeds  from  the  Father  and  from 
the  Son.  He  is  eternally  the  "  Spirit  of  the  Father," 
and  equally  "  the  Spirit  of  the  Son."  He  is  the  Author 
of  beauty  in  the  physical  world  and  of  holiness  in  the 
moral  and  spiritual  world.  Wherever  he  is,  there  the 
Father  and  the  Son  are.  He  is  in  all  spheres  of  action, 
whether  of  creation  or  of  providence  or  of  redemption, 
the  executive  of  God. 

III.  That  these  three  are  really  distinct  Persons  is 
thus  manifested  and  illustrated  in  Scripture  in  the  most 
definite  and  indubitable  manner  possible.  No  words  or 
terms  of  definition  could  make  the  facts  so  clear  and  cer- 
tain as  they  are  made  by  the  simple  narratives  of  the 
mutual  discourses  and  relative  attitudes  and  actions  of 
these  three  Persons  in  the  Scriptures.  We  know  noth- 
ing except  through  these  scriptural  representations.  If 
these  are  delusive,  we  know  nothing.  And  if  these  three 
are  not  distinct,  self-conscious  Persons,  then  these  evan- 
gelical narratives  are  utterly  untrustworthy  romances. 

Moreover,  we  are  the  more  ready  to  accept  them  as 


IN  THE  GODHEAD.  127 

accurate  inasmuch  as  they  make  the  nature  of  God  in- 
finitely more  intelligible  to  us.  The  condition  of  our 
knowing  God  at  all  is  wholly  that  we  were  created  in 
his  image.  Science,  apart  from  our  self-consciousness, 
which  reveals  to  us  person  and  cause  and  end,  does  not 
give  us  God.  Except  as  illumined  by  the  reflected  light 
of  our  own  self-consciousness  the  immeasurable  machine 
of  the  material  world  gives  no  sign  of  God.  We  are 
spirits,  persons  and  causes ;  therefore  we  know  God  to 
be  a  personal  spirit  and  first  cause.  But  we  are  no  less 
essentially  social  beings,  and  to  us  all  life  and  character, 
intellect,  moral  or  practical,  is  conceivable  only  under  so- 
cial conditions.  A  unitarian,  one-personed  God  might 
possibly  have  existed,  and  if  revealed  as  such  it  would 
have  beeu  our  duty  to  have  acknowledged  his  lordship. 
But,  nevertheless,  he  would  have  always  remained  ut- 
terly inconceivable  to  us — one  lone,  fellowless,  conscious 
being;  subject  without  object;  conscious  person  without 
environment;  righteous  being  without  fellowship  or 
moral  relation  or  sphere  of  right  action.  Where  would 
there  be  to  him  a  sphere  of  love,  truth,  trust ;  of  sym- 
pathetic feeling?  Before  creation,  eternal  darkness; 
after  creation,  only  an  endless  game  of  solitaire,  with 
worlds  for  pawns.  But  the  Scriptures  declare  that  love 
is  not  only  a  possibiUty  to  God  or  an  occasional  mood, 
but  his  very  essence.  If  love  be  of  the  essence  of  God, 
he  must  always  love ;  and,  being  eternal,  he  must  have 
possessed  an  eternal  object  of  love ;  and,  being  infinite, 
he  must  have  eternally  possessed  an  infinite  object  of 
love.  This  of  course  the  eternal  Persons  find  mutually 
in  each  other.  Nothing  but  this  gives  us  a  God  and 
Father  whose  nature  we  can  comprehend  and  with  whom 


128  THE  TRINITY  OF  PERSONS 

we  can  sympathize.  A  God  essentially  active — and  act- 
ive in  the  forms  of  infinite  intelligence  and  righteousness 
and  love — can  be  found  nowhere  except  in  the  mutual 
society  of  the  Father  and  of  the  Son  and  of  the  Holy 
Ghost. 

The  least  rational  and  moral  of  all  theistic  systems  is 
that  of  a  bare,  bald  unitarianism.  The  least  intelligent 
and  spiritual  of  all  heretical  perversions  of  catholic  truth 
is  the  pale  fallacy  which  substitutes  the  phenomenal  and 
superficial  distinctions  of  a  modal  trinity  in  the  place  of 
the  three  self-conscious,  loving,  counseling  Persons, 
Father,  Son  and  Holy  Ghost,  eternally  one,  yet  eternally 
several  and  threefold.  The  most  rational,  illuminated, 
genial  and  spiritually  fruitful  conception  of  God  known 
among  men  is  that  conveyed  by  his  self-revelation  in  the 
actual  history  of  redemption  as  three  Persons  eternally 
loving  and  thinking  and  acting  in  the  unity  of  one  eter- 
nal Godhead. 

IV.  This  catholic  doctrine  of  the  trinity  of  Persons 
in  the  one  Godhead,  moreover,  fulfills  another  criterion 
of  catholic  truth  in  that  it  embraces,  combines  and  recon- 
ciles all  the  half-truths  of  all  the  heresies  which  have 
ever  attained  to  currency  or  power  among  thinking  men, 
Christian  or  heathen. 

The  false  systems  of  religion  which  have  prevailed 
among  men  may  in  a  general  way  be  grouped  under  the 
general  heads  of  Deism,  Pantheism,  Polytheism.  These 
have  various  grades  of  merit,  yet  they  all  alike  embrace 
some  elements  of  important  truth,  and  yet  are  all,  upon 
the  whole,  false  and  injurious. 

1st.  The  deistic  view  of  God  regards  him  as  an  ex- 
alted Person,  who  has  created  the  universe,  and  now  in 


IN  THE  GODHEAD.  129 

a  general  and  distant  way  governs  it,  but  who  exists  es- 
sentially outside  of  the  world,  and  acts  upon  it  only  from 
without,  and  almost  exclusively  through  second  causes 
and  the  utterly  inflexible  sequences  of  natural  law.  The 
world  is  a  machine  which  is  wholly  inexorable  in  all  its 
movements,  shutting  in  the  struggling  souls  of  men, 
separating  them  from  their  absent  Father  and  holding 
them  fast  in  the  toils  of  fate. 

2d.  The  pantheistic  view  regards  God  as  the  omnipres- 
ent substance  of  which  all  things  consist,  the  irresistible 
current  of  force  which  flows  through  all  movement  and 
all  life.  He  is  not  a  Person  who  knows  and  loves  us, 
for  he  has  no  existence  except  as  he  exists  in  the  things 
continually  coming  and  going  which  constitute  the  phe- 
nomenal world.  His  only  thought  is  the  sum  of  the 
thoughts  of  all  finite  things,  his  only  life  the  sum  of  all 
creature  life.  He  works  in  all  things  from  within,  and 
he  reveals  himself  to  us  only  as  he  emerges  in  our  own 
consciences  and  reveals  himself  in  us  as  essentially  one 
with  himself. 

3d.  Even  the  gross  fictions  of  Polytheism  have  a 
tincture  of  truth  to  give  them  power  over  the  human 
mind.  If  God  is  moral,  there  must  be  a  personal  dis- 
tinction and  a  social  basis  in  his  essential  nature.  If  the 
infinite  and  the  absolute  One  is  to  exert  a  moral  and 
educating  influence  on  human  life,  he  will  appear  to  us 
self-limited  under  the  conditions  of  time  and  space:  "all 
the  fullness  of  the  Godhead"  must  appear  to  us  "bodily." 
It  is  easily  seen  how  wonderfully  the  revealed  doctrine 
of  the  Trinity  comprehends  in  a  harmonious  and  pure 
form  all  of  the  straggling  and  apparently  conflicting  rays 
of  light  preserved  in  these  human  systems  of  false  relig- 

9 


130  THE  TRINITY  OF  PERSONS 

ion.  The  Father  sits  apart  as  the  distant  and  incommu- 
nicable God,  the  Origin  and  End  of  all  things,  the  ulti- 
mate Source  of  all  authority  and  power,  but  beyond  all 
human  thought  and  touch,  separate  on  his  eternal  throne 
in  the  highest  heavens.  The  truth  of  Pantheism  is  real- 
ized in  the  Holy  Ghost,  who,  while  of  the  same  substance 
as  the  Father,  is  revealed  to  us  as  immanent  in  all  things, 
the  basis  of  all  existence,  the  tide  of  all  life,  springing 
up  like  a  well  of  water  from  within  us,  giving  form  to 
chaos  and  inspiration  to  reason,  the  ever-present  execu- 
tive of  God,  the  Author  of  all  beauty  in  the  physical 
world,  of  all  true  philosophy,  science  and  theology  in  the 
world  of  thought,  and  of  all  holiness  in  the  world  of 
spirit.  The  eternal  Son  has  stooped  to  a  real  and  per- 
manent incarnation,  and  has  done  sublimely  what  the 
incarnations  of  the  heathen  mythology  have  only  carica- 
tured. We  have  what  the  polytheists  merely  dreamed 
of,  and  never  really  saw — the  unfolding  of  the  ethical 
constitution  of  the  Godhead,  revealing  his  existence  in  a 
plurality  of  persons,  the  actual  and  permanent  dwelling 
of  the  absolute  God  in  the  form  of  human  flesh. 

V.  This  perfect  self- revelation  of  God  as  a  trinity  of 
coequal  Persons,  moreover,  completely  fulfills,  as  none 
other  can,  all  the  demands  of  the  highest  philosophy  and 
of  the  last  suggestions  of  science.  In  the  first  lecture 
of  this  course  we  saw  that  when  God  was  diligently 
sought,  he  was  found  in  different  directions  and  in  differ- 
ent forms.  These  might  be  found  to  be  mutually  irrec- 
oncilable to  human  reason  alone,  while  it  was  none  the 
less  the  dictate  of  sound  reason  to  persevere  in  the  faith 
that  in  some  higher  region  all  these  various  aspects  of 
the  one  God  would  be  found  to  have  a  common  ground. 


IN  THE  GODHEAD.  131 

This  common  ground  is  evidently  set  before  us  by  the 
revealed  doctrine  of  the  Trinity.  Philosophy,  natural 
religion  and  science  together  give  us  God  as  the  unfath- 
omable Abyss,  as  the  transcendent  and  ineffable  extra- 
mundane  Person,  and  as  the  omnipresent  immanent 
Spirit  who  is  the  ground  of  all  being  and  the  source  of 
all  life.  The  inspired  Word  and  the  incarnate  Christ  of 
God  give  us  the  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Ghost.  The 
Father  is  the. unknown  and  unknowable  Source  from 
which  all  things  issue,  and  End  to  which  all  things  tend. 
The  Son  is  the  personal  Jehovah  who  reveals  the  whole 
Godhead  in  himself — in  whom  we  see  and  worship  the 
Father,  and  through  whom  all  things  consist.  The 
Holy  Ghost  is  the  God  within  us,  whose  movement  in 
space  gives  us  the  order  of  the  suns  and  stars,  and  whose 
inspiration  within  us  unveils  the  moral  law  and  the  glory 
of  the  spiritual  world. 

VI.  This  transcendent  truth  can  never  be  understood 
and  can  never  be  proved ;  but  when  once  received  as 
truth  on  the  ground  of  the  testimony  of  the  divine 
Word,  it  may  be  made  clearer  by  felicitous  illustration. 
I  therefore  ask  you  now  tc  follow  me  while  I  present 
the  Parable  of  Light. 

Before  this  is  presented  I  want  to  make  two  introduc- 
tory remarks  :  First,  it  would  be  foolish  as  well  as  irrev- 
erent for  mortals  under  our  limited  conditions  to  attempt 
to  penetrate  the  awful  secrets  of  the  divine  Being,  and 
to  throw  the  rushlight  of  our  poor  understandings  over 
the  impenetrable  secrets  of  the  interrelations  of  the 
Father,  Son  and  Holy  Ghost  as  they  exist  together  eter- 
nally in  the  bosom  of  the  one  Godhead.  It  is  of  course 
very  different  when  we  come  to  what  God  has  himself 


132  THE  TRINITY  OF  PERSONS 

condescended  to  reveal  to  ns  as  to  the  relations  each  di- 
vine Person  severally  sustains  to  the  universe  external 
to  the  Godhead,  and  as  to  the  work  which  they  each  per- 
form in  their  co-operative  agency  in  the  economies  of 
creation,  providence  and  redemption.  Our  illustration 
is  confined  to  this  distinctly-revealed  region  of  the  ex- 
ternal relations  of  the  different  Persons  of  the  one  God- 
head to  the  universe. 

In  the  second  place,  we  claim  that  our  right  to  illus- 
trate the  revealed  facts  of  the  spiritual  world  by  analogies 
drawn  from  the  physical  creation  is  founded  upon  a  right 
view  of  the  relation  of  the  material  and  physical  worlds 
as  constituted  by  God.  The  object  of  God  in  all  his 
works  has  been  the  manifestation  of  his  own  glorious 
perfections  through  the  medium  of  his  works.  The 
heavens  and  the  earth  and  the  whole  course  of  provi- 
dence are  a  veil  through  which  the  perfections,  designs 
and  methods  of  the  several  Persons  of  the  Godhead  are 
more  or  less  clearly  shadowed  forth  to  us.  Hence  our 
Saviour  himself  spoke  in  parables  and  metaphors.  Both 
Old  and  New  Testaments  combine  in  making;  all  nature 
a  mirror  reflecting  the  face  and  activities  of  God,  the  in- 
most operations  of  his  grace  being  represented  by  such 
natural  agencies  as  water,  oil,  salt,  leaven,  wind,  fire,  a 
hammer,  a  sword,  and  fullers'  soap. 

1st.  Let  it,  then,  be  marked  that  light  in  its  essence  is 
absolutely  invisible  and  passes  all  apprehension.  Phil- 
•si  >phers  assume  by  hypothesis  a  great  interstellar  ocean 
of  highly  rarefied  elastic  matter  called  the  ethereal  me- 
dium, which  no  man  has  seen  or  can  see.  They  tell  us 
that  light  is  a  peculiar  mode  of  motion  transmitted  in  all 
directions   inimitably  in   this   ethereal   medium.      But 


IN  THE  GODHEAD.  133 

whence  comes  this  infinite  throbbing  whose  restless 
waves,  traversing  the  celestial  spaces,  break  ceaselessly 
on  the  revolving  worlds?  They  flow  down  upon  us 
from  measureless  space  through  measureless  time,  and  no 
genius  can  imagine  whence  they  come  and  whither  they 
go.  Light  makes  manifest  all  things  from  which  it  is 
radiated  or  upon  which  it  is  reflected,  but  is  itself  utterly 
invisible  and  unknown. 

Thus  it  is  with  God  the  Father.  Through  infinite 
time  he  fills  infinite  space,  and  he  is  the  Abyss  from 
which  all  things  flow  and  into  which  all  things  tend  ; 
yet  no  man  hath  or  can  see  God  at  any  time :  the  only- 
begotten  Son,  who  is  in  the  bosom  of  the  Father,  he  hath 
declared  him. 

2d.  Light  itself  makes  all  things  visible  on  which  it 
falls  and  from  which  it  is  reflected,  but  it  becomes  itself 
visible  only  in  a  radiant  point  or  disk,  like  that  of  the 
insufferable  sun  from  which  it  floods  the  world.  Sup- 
pose some  angel  or  other  inhabitant  of  an  outlying  prov- 
ince of  creation,  who  had  often  heard  of  the  wonders  and 
splendors  of  light,  though  he  had  never  seen  them, — sup- 
pose him  to  wander  far  afield  through  the  nether  dark- 
ness in  search  of  this  hitherto  unseen  wonder.  If  such 
an  one  suddenly  should  rise  beyond  the  crest  of  some 
eclipsing  shadow,  and  without  transition  stand  face  to 
face  with  our  central  sun,  would  he  not  with  rapt  won- 
der naturally  hail  the  sun  with  language  similar  to  that 
used  in  Scripture  to  express  the  essential  relation  of  the 
eternal  Word  to  God  ? — "All  hail !  thou  art  the  very 
light  I  seek ;  thou  art  the  Word  of  light,  its  uttered 
form ;  thou  art  its  express  image  in  which  this  invisible 
source  of  all  life  and  knowledge  may  be  beheld ;  thou 


134  THE  TRINITY  OF  PERSONS 

art  the  radiancy  of  its  inexhaustible  glory.  All  its  full- 
ness dwells  in  thee  bodily."  Thus  God  the  Father  is 
never  known  except  as  he  is  seen  in  the  Person  of  the 
Son.  He  that  hath  seen  the  Son  hath  seen  the  Father, 
and  never  otherwise  or  otherwhere  is  the  Father  ever 
seen.  Angels  and  archangels  and  all  the  other  sons  of 
God  who,  impelled  by  a  native  aspiration,  seek  to  know 
their  Father,  hear  his  voice  only  as  it  is  uttered  in  his 
eternal  Word,  and  see  his  image  only  as  it  is  rendered 
visible  in  his  express  Image  and  is  projected  forth  as  the 
radiance  or  effulgence  of  his  glory. 

3d.  That  which  makes  the  energy  and  influence  of 
the  sun  omnipresent  is  the  inexhaustible  volume  of  its 
rays  floodiug  space  in  all  directions.  The  rays  of  dis- 
tant constellations  come  down  to  us  through  millenniums 
and  centuries  and  years.  The  rays  of  our  own  sun  flood 
the  successive  sides  of  the  earth  as  it  revolves  daily  on 
its  axis,  bearing  down  over  the  mountain-tops  to  the 
lowest  valley  and  over  the  broadest  plains  heat,  light  and 
actinic  energy,  the  source  of  all  life  and  movement.  If 
these  rays  should  by  any  reason  cease,  or  if  they  should 
be  cut  off  by  the  interposition  of  an  opaque  mass,  the 
sun  would  as  to  us  virtually  cease  to  exist.  It  would  be 
utterly  withdrawn  from  our  consciousness,  and  it  would 
entirely  cease  to  be  to  us  any  more  the  source  of  light 
and  life. 

Thus  the  immanent  Holy  Ghost  makes  God  the  Father 
and  God  the  Son,  and  so  Christ  the  God-man,  now  glori- 
fied in  heaven,  omnipresent  to  all  the  Church  in  heaven 
and  on  earth.  If  the  Holy  Ghost  were  withdrawn,  the 
Christ  would  be  absent  and  of  none  effect  to  us.  But 
if  the  Holy  Ghost  is  present  and  active  in  us,  we  dwell 


IN  THE  GODHEAD.  135 

ill  the  full  flood  of  the  light  and  of  the  life  of  God  and 
of  his  Christ. 

4th.  The  rays  of  light  radiated  or  reflected  from  any 
surface  to  another  never  reveal  themselves ;  they  only 
make  manifest  or  reproduce  by  reflection  the  surface 
from  which  they  come.  Thus  every  one  sees  by  means 
of  the  rays  radiated  or  reflected  the  very  image  of  the 
sun  and  moon  in  the  water  and  all  the  features  of  the 
landscape  in  the  mirror.  So  it  is  always  in  the  work  of 
the  Holy  Ghost.  He  never  speaks  of  himself,  but  he 
always  receives  of  Christ  and  shows  and  communicates 
to  us  the  Christ  and  his  redemptive  grace.  The  rays  of 
light  never  picture  themselves,  but  the  stars  from  which 
they  come.  So  the  Holy  Ghost  never  excites  in  our 
consciousness  thoughts  and  emotions  relating  to  himself, 
but  always  those  which  relate  to  the  Godhead  and  to  the 
incarnate  Christ.  Therefore  it  is  that,  although  the  Holy 
Ghost  inspired  the  Scriptures,  and  although  he  is  the  im- 
mediately present  and  the  constantly  active  Person  of  the 
Godhead  in  our  hearts  and  lives,  yet  there  is  compara- 
tively so  little  conspicuity  given  in  Scripture  and  in 
Christian  thought  to  the  personality  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
He  is  ever  speaking,  yet  not  of  himself,  but  of  Christ. 

5th.  All  the  fullness  of  light  is  exhibited  and  conveyed 
in  the  sun  bodily ;  so  all  the  fullness  of  the  Godhead  is 
exhibited  and  conveyed  in  the  Person  of  the  God-man 
bodily.  The  form  is  human,  but  all  of  God  is  here. 
The  Infinite  has  kept  back  nothing,  but  has  given  us 
the  ALL  in  giving  us  his  Son. 

6th.  The  sun  conveys  his  fullness  to  the  attendant 
spheres  only  ray  by  ray  in  successive  periods  of  time. 
So  we  live  onlv  as  we  continue  to  live  in  God  and  receive 


136  THE  TRINITY  OF  PERSONS 

from  him  our  life  "  grace  for  grace."  But  the  immeas- 
urable oceau  of  the  interstellar  ether  ever  coutains  in  its 
depths,  latent  yet  potential,  the  infinite  stores  of  historic 
light  and  heat.  Looking  up  athwart  the  evening  sky, 
we  see  the  inflowing  streams  of  radiance  wrhich  have 
been  invisibly  pulsing  in  the  bosom  of  that  ocean  for 
years  or  centuries  or  millenniums.  All  the  secrets  of 
the  worlds  from  creation  downward  through  the  seons, 
all  the  heat  or  light  or  life-force  they  have  ever  received 
or  shed  forth,  are  beating  iu  the  depths  of  that  impene- 
trable ether  across  the  black  bosom  of  which  we  look 
out  at  night.  So  is  the  eternal  and  infinite  Holy  Ghost 
an  absolutely  measureless  and  inexhaustible  source  of 
liffht  and  life.  In  him  all  the  sources  of  our  life  lie 
latent  as  in  the  being  of  God  ;  from  him  all  the  elements 
of  the  creature's  life,  and  pre-eminently  of  the  Christian's 
life,  spring  in  spontaneous  freeness  and  in  transcendent 
perfection. 

7th.  The  fullness  of  the  sun,  brought  out  into  the 
circle  of  the  dependent  worlds  by  radiation,  is  brought 
into  the  knowledge  of  the  creature  only  by  the  refrac- 
tions and  reflections  to  which  this  radiance  is  subjected 
in  the  worlds  themselves.  If  we  could  place  ourselves 
beyond  the  atmosphere  in  the  interplanetary  space,  we 
would  on  every  side  except  that  toward  the  sun  itself 
behold  the  whole  hemisphere  absolutely  black,  with  the 
stars  simply  as  points  without  size — themselves  visible, 
but  spreading  no  light  around.  If  we  should  turn  and 
face  the  sun  itself,  we  should  see  only  a  dull  blue  disk 
of  lambent  flame.  It  is  only  after  we  have  descended 
within  the  volume  of  the  atmosphere,  and  come  to  the 
surface  of  the  earth  itself,  that  the  hitherto  latent  myr- 


IN  THE  GODHEAD.  137 

md-hued  beauties  of  the  sun  first  come  out  to  view.  Ke- 
fracted  by  every  successive  stratum  of  the  earth's  atmo- 
sphere and  by  the  vapors  of  various  densities  which  can- 
opy our  hills  and  streams,  this  hitherto  latent  radiance  is 
broken  and  expanded  into  the  infinitely  varied  hues  of 
the  rainbow  and  of  the  imperial  retinue  of  clouds  which 
attend  the  alternate  rising  and  setting  of  the  sun.  And 
the  whole  earth,  its  hills  and  vales  and  plains,  and  all  its 
innumerable  tribes  of  plants  and  flowers  and  birds  and 
beasts,  reflect  each  one  a  separate  color  or  shade  or  tone 
of  light,  and  by  their  infinite  variety  collectively  articu- 
late the  incalculable  beauties  latent  in  the  sun's  radiance, 
which  could  not  otherwise  be  known. 

Thus  it  is  that  the  radiance  of  the  effulgent  Image  of 
the  invisible  God— that  is,  the  ever-present  Spirit  of  the 
Son  of  the  Father — exhibits  to  us  the  infinite  fullness 
and  variety  of  his  grace,  not  immediately  in  himself,  but 
by  refractions  and  reflections  through  the  intelligent 
spirits  in  which  he  dwells,  in  no  single  Church  or  per- 
son, but  in  all  the  endlessly  varied  spiritual  beauties  and 
graces  of  all  the  saints  of  all  nations  and  ages,  and  in  the 
angels  of  all  ranks.  Thrones  and  dominions,  principali- 
ties and  powers,  circle  the  throne  and  reflect  the  first 
gush  of  the  white  light.  But  all  down  the  lines  of  vis- 
ion, in  interminable  perspective,  poets  aud  philosophers, 
artists  and  musicians,  prophets  and  priests,  and  all  the 
saints  of  very  various  shade  and  tone,  analyze  and  re- 
flect all  the  perfections  of  their  Lord,  which  otherwise 
no  eye  hath  seen  nor  can  see. 

8th.  But  the  sun  of  our  physical  system  is  the  inex- 
haustible source  of  all  life  as  well  as  all  light.  When 
he  moves  southward  toward  the  winter  solstice  he  leaves 


138 


THE  TRINITY  OF  PERSONS 


all  our  northern  hemisphere  comfortless  and  dead.  The 
leaves  wither  and  fall,  the  birds  depart  for  the  genial 
south,  the  springing  fountains  are  sealed  up,  the  whole 
earth  freezes  into  solid,  obdurate  stone,  and  death  reigns 
supreme.  When  again,  at  the  vernal  equinox,  the  sun 
returns  and  pours  his  warm  rays  over  the  world,  then 
all  nature  is  quickened  to  life  and  wakes,  the  fountains 
are  unsealed,  the  softened  mould  is  impregnated,  and 
every  germ  unfolds,  and  the  singing  birds  come  back, 
and  the  trees  blossom,  and  all  the  earth  rejoices  and 
bears  fruit. 

So  when  the  Holy  Spirit  is  withdrawn  from  our  midst, 
and  consequently  God  and  Christ  are  absent,  the  fountains 
of  our  spirits  close,  our  minds  are  darkened,  our  strength 
withers,  and  the  winter  of  our  souls  enfolds  us,  and  the 
whole  Church  with  us,  in  death.  But  when  the  Holy 
Ghost  returns  again  and  sets  for  us  once  more  the  return- 
ing sun  in  our  sky,  new  life  from  on  high  thrills  through 
our  veins,  our  hearts  sing,  our  eyes  take  the  heavenly 
light,  our  hands  are  made  strong,  and  the  work  of  the 
Lord  prospers  everywhere. 

9th.  Once  again,  it  belongs  to  the  mystery  of  light 
that  each  ray  tends  to  reproduce  everywhere  in  the  object 
upon  which  it  falls  the  image  of  that  from  which  it  ra- 
diates. This  general  secret  of  photography  was  known 
ages  before  the  time  of  Daguerre.  Engravings  repro- 
duce themselves  upon  the  blank  paper  which  shades  them 
from  the  light.  The  sun,  striking  the  wind-ruffled  river 
or  lake  with  its  radiance,  reproduces  on  every  one  of  the 
myriad  wavelets  a  perfect  image  of  himself.  As  we 
stand  face  to  face  the  image  of  each  is  reproduced  on  the 
eye  and  face  of  the  other.     This  energy  of  light  in  the 


IN  THE  GODHEAD.  139 

long  run  outs  deeper  than  the  surface :  in  the  suuny  side 
of  hospital  wards  it  moulds  anew  the  shriveled  limbs  of 
the  palsied,  and  like  a  sculptor  fashions  them  after  the 
forgotten  ideal.  So  after  long  lives  of  mutual  contem- 
plation  husbands  and  wives  and  familiar  friends,  how- 
ever dissimilar  at  the  first,  come  to  look,  as  well  as  to 
think,  alike  under  the  plastic  and  assimilating  power  of 
light.  Often  has  the  mountain-traveler  seen  this  mira- 
cle wrought  in  a  lake  between  the  forest-clad  hills.  The 
sky  is  cloudless ;  the  air  as  clear  as  crystal,  and  wind- 
less ;  the  water  lying  like  glass,  pure  and  placid  as  a 
mirror,  under  the  bending  skies.  There  you  see  the 
very  heavens,  the  vast  spaces,  the  great  depths,  the  bril- 
liant stars  in  their  celestial  perspective,  all  reproduced  in 
the  bosom  of  the  lake.  So  when  our  souls  lie  in  holy 
contemplation  under  the  rays  of  Christ  the  heavenly 
Sun,  our  passions  stilled,  our  hearts  calm  and  purified 
from  their  lower  springs,  "  we  also  with  open  face,  be- 
holding as  in  a  glass  the  glory  of  the  Lord,  are  changed 
into  the  same  image,  from  glory  unto  glory,  even  as  by 
the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  "  (2  Cor.  3:18). 


LECTURE   VII. 

PBEDESTINA  TION. 

This  is  a  subject  which  is  very  little  understood,  even 
by  those  Christians  who  profess  to  embrace  it  in  their 
creed.  This  is  due  in  part  to  the  nature  of  the  subject, 
to  its  profundity  and  to  the  infinite  range  of  its  compli- 
cations with  other  important  truths.  But  it  is  also  in 
large  measure  due  to  inattention  and  to  the  general  preva- 
lence of  a  natural  though  an  unfounded  and  ignorant 
prejudice.  This  prejudice  has  become  in  many  quarters 
an  epidemic  irresistible  to  persons  of  more  zeal  than  judg- 
ment. Now,  I  wish  to  urge  a  plea  in  favor  of  an  earnest, 
frank,  patient  study  of  the  subject.  Vague  prejudice 
unsupported  by  definite  knowledge  has  no  value.  It  is 
unquestionable  that  the  Scriptures  do  teach  some  doc- 
trine of  predestination,  and  a  very  strict  doctrine  of  un- 
conditional election  has  been  held  by  the  greatest  and 
most  thoroughly  biblical  theologians,  and  by  whole  de- 
nominations of  Christians  most  conspicuous  for  their 
evangelical  character  and  fruitfulness.  It  will  not  do 
for  any  of  us  to  dismiss  such  a  subject  with  supercilious 
impatience.  We  should  at  the  very  least  do  our  best  to 
secure  a  clear  conception  of  the  doctrine,  and  of  its  rela- 
tion to  other  doctrines,  before  we  make  ourselves  sure 
that  it  is  not  true. 

I.  In  the  first  place,  it  should  be  clearly  understood 

140 


PREDESTINATION.  141 

that  this  great  principle  of  divine  predestination  is  held 
in  two  entirely  different  connections  and  interests.  It 
has  by  a  great  many  been  discussed  simply  as  a  question 
of  transcendental  theology,  as  concerning  the  acts  of  God 
enacted  in  eternity  in  a  sphere  above  and  behind  the  ex- 
ternal phenomena  which  are  obvious  to  our  senses.  If 
there  be  a  God,  he  necessarily  exists  in  eternity,  while 
the  creation  exists  in  the  successions  and  limitations  of 
time.  The  universe  as  a  whole  and  all  the  parts  of  it 
originate  in  him  and  depend  upon  him,  and  therefore  are 
determined  by  him.  According  to  the  precise  language 
of  the  Westminster  Shorter  Catechism,  Ques.  7,  "  The 
decrees  of  God  are,  his  eternal  purpose,  according  to  the 
counsel  of  his  will,  whereby,  for  his  own  glory,  he  hath 
foreordained  whatsoever  comes  to  pass."  This  sweeps 
the  whole  universe,  and  is  a  proposition  of  the  highest 
and  most  general  speculative  importance.  This  position 
is  unquestionably,  in  this  form,  true  and  logically  involved 
in  all  scriptural  views  of  the  doctrine  of  grace  in  all  its 
elements.  It  is  therefore  rightly  embraced  in  our  Con- 
fession of  Faith,  and  the  present  lecturer  with  all  his 
heart  believes  it  to  be  true.  It  is  in  this  spirit  and  from 
this  speculative  point  of  view  that  Zwiugle  discusses 
this  subject  in  his  De  Providentia.  And  it  is  this  aspect 
of  the  question  which  is  habitually  considered  by  the 
general  Christian  public  in  their  hostile  criticisms  of  this 
doctrine.  Now,  I  am  perfectly  free  to  confess  that  how- 
ever true  this  view  of  the  general  principle  of  predesti- 
nation is,  and  however  much  it  is  logically  implicated  in 
the  essentials  of  the  Christian  doctrines  of  grace,  never- 
theless this  transcendental  way  of  conceiving  of  the  mat- 
ter is  more    speculative  than    practical.      Although    I 


142  PREDESTINATION. 

heartily  accord  with  the  view  in  my  own  mind,  I  feel  no 
disposition  to  insist  upon  the  assent  of  any  Christian 
brother  as  a  matter  of  loyalty  to  the  Christian  faith.  jNo 
element  of  the  Creed  is  essential  unless  it  practically  de- 
termines the  attitude  of  the  soul  in  its  relations  to  God 
through  Christ.  And  only  those  aspects  and  modes  of 
conceiving  Christian  truth  should  be  insisted  upon  and 
imposed  upon  others  as  obligatory  which  do  directly  de- 
termine this  Godward  attitude  of  our  souls,  or,  in  other 
words,  which  directly  enter  into  and  give  form  to  our 
religious  experience. 

On  the  other  hand,  Calvin  presents  his  characteristic 
doctrine  of  eternal  election  in  living  connection  with  the 
great  practical  experimental  questions  of  personal  salva- 
tion and  of  divine  grace.  If  we  are  sinners,  it  is  evident 
that  the  practically  essential  thing  in  religious  experience 
is  to  appreciate  truly  our  guilt,  unworthiness  and  help- 
lessness before  God,  and  God's  free  grace  toward  us  to 
its  full  extent.  If  God  is  infinitely  gracious  and  just, 
if  at  measureless  expense  he  redeemed  us  at  the  cost  of 
the  pain,  shame  and  death  of  his  own  Son,  it  follows 
that  any  failure  in  our  appreciation  of  our  own  unwor- 
thiness and  helplessness,  or  of  God's  gracious  activity  in 
our  salvation,  would  be  absolutely  insufferable.  To 
claim  more  for  ourselves  or  to  ascribe  less  to  God  than 
the  facts  of  the  case  justify  would  be  the  greatest  of  all 
sins,  and  would  be  the  very  thing  to  make  salvation  im- 
possible. The  sense  of  our  own  guilt,  pollution  and  im- 
potence, and  of  the  absolute  unconditioned  freeness  of 
the  grace  which  saves  us,  is  involved  in  every  case  of 
genuine  religious  experience. 

The  expiatory  work  of  Christ  which  is  sufficient  for, 


PREDESTINATION.  143 

adapted  to  and  freely  offered  to  all  men,  being  presup- 
posed, the  question  of  questions  is,  How,  by  what  agencies 
and  on  what  conditions,  is  it  effectually  applied  to  any 
individual  ?  The  Scriptures  make  it  plain  that  the  con- 
dition of  its  effectual  application  is  an  act  of  faith,  in- 
volving real  spiritual  repentance  and  the  turning  from 
sin  and  the  acceptance  and  self-appropriation  of  Christ 
and  of  his  redemption  as  the  only  remedy.  But  what 
will  prompt  a  sinner  in  love  with  his  sin,  spiritually 
blind  and  callous,  thus  to  repent  and  accept  Christ  as  the 
cure  of  the  sin  he  loves  ?  The  first  movement  cannot 
begin  with  man.  The  sinner  of  himself  cannot  really 
desire  deliverance  from  sin  ;  of  himself  he  cannot  ap- 
preciate the  attractive  beauty,  loveliness  or  saving  power 
of  Christ.  The  dead  man  cannot  spontaneously  originate 
his  own  quickening,  nor  the  creature  his  own  creating, 
nor  the  infant  his  own  begetting.  Whatever  man  may 
do  after  regeneration,  the  first  quickening  of  the  dead 
must  originate  in  the  first  instance  with  God.  All 
Christians  feel  this  as  the  most  intimate  conviction  of 
their  souls.  Yet  it  involves  necessarily  this  very  doc- 
trine of  eternal  predestination  or  election.  If  God  be- 
gins the  work,  if  our  believing  follows  his  quickening, 
then  it  is  God,  not  man,  who  makes  the  difference  be- 
tween the  quickened  and  the  unquickened.  If  we  be- 
lieve, it  is  because  we  have  been  first  quickened.  If  any 
man  do  not  believe,  it  is  because  he  is  yet  dead  in  his 
natural  sin.  God's  eternal  choice  therefore  cannot  de- 
pend upon  foreseen  faith,  but,  on  the  contrary,  faith  must 
depend  upon  God's  eternal  choice. 

As  between  the  man  who  believes  in  Christ  and  the 
man  who  finally  rejects  him,  the  source  of  the  difference 


144  PREDESTINATION. 

is  put  by  the  Pelagian  entirely  in  the  inalienable,  unas- 
sisted power  of  the  human  will.  All  that  can  be  said  in 
the  case  is  that  the  one  man  has  accepted  Christ  because 
he  chose  to  do  so,  aud  the  other  man  has  rejected  Christ 
because  he  chose  to  do  so.  Each  has  acted  as  he  has 
done  in  the  unfettered  and  unfetterable  exercise  of  the 
human  will.  But  Pelao-ianism  makes  no  room  for  oriiri- 
nal  sin  nor  for  the  necessity  of  divine  grace.  It  is  dia- 
metrically opposed  to  the  Scriptures,  to  the  religious  ex- 
perience of  all  Christians,  and  it  has  been  rejected  as 
anti-Christian  by  the  unanimous  consent  of  the  whole 
historic  Church. 

The  Semi-Pelagian,  admitting  that  man  is  morally 
sick,  holds  that  every  sinner  must  make  the  first  move- 
ment Godward  spontaneously,  in  his  own  strength,  after 
which,  if  his  effort  is  sincere,  however  ineffectual,  God 
will  co-operate  by  his  grace  with  him  and  make  his  effort 
successful.  The  Arminian,  on  the  other  hand,  admitting 
that  all  men,  being  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins,  are  abso- 
lutely incapable  of  spontaneously  originating  any  good 
desire  or  effort,  yet  holds  that  God  gives  the  same  suffi- 
cient grace  to  all  men ;  aud  he  makes  the  difference  be- 
tween the  believer  and  the  unbeliever  to  lie  in  the  fact 
that  the  former  co-operates,  and  thus  renders  the  grace 
in  his  case  effectual,  and  the  other  fails  to  co-operate  with 
it,  and  thus  renders  it  ineffectual.  The  Lutheran,  who 
maintains  that  men  are  in  such  sense  dead  in  sin  that 
they  are  utterly  unable  to  co-operate  with  grace  before 
they  have  been  themselves  quickened  to  life  by  grace, 
yet  makes  the  difference  between  the  believer  and  the 
unbeliever  to  consist  in  the  fact,  that  while  no  man  can 
co-operate  with   grace  previous  to  regeneration,  every 


PREDESTINATION.  145 

man  is  free  to  resist  it.  With  the  Lutheran,  therefore, 
the  believer  is  the  non-resistant,  the  unbeliever  is  the  re- 
sistant, subject  of  a  common  universal  grace.  The  Cal- 
»Tinist,  on  the  other  hand,  glorifies  the  free  and  sovereign 
grace  of  God  by  attributing  to  it  aloue  all  the  efficiency 
in  saving  the  believing  sinner.  It  is  God's  grace  which 
makes  the  believer  all  he  is.  He  feels  this ;  of  this  at 
least  he  is  absolutely  sure.  He  is  nothing  more  than  a 
poor  wandering  sheep.  The  Good  Shepherd  has  sought 
him  out,  found  him  and  carried  him  back  on  his  breast. 
In  himself  and  of  himself  in  his  entire  history  he  is  no 
better  than  his  fellow-men  who  are  lost.  It  is  only  God's 
free  grace,  therefore,  which  has  made  the  difference.  The 
faith  he  has  cannot  have  been  the  precondition  of  God's 
choice,  but  God's  choice  must  have  been  the  precedent 
cause  of  his  faith. 

In  this  form  of  the  doctrine,  we  did  not  first  choose 
him,  but  he  first  chose  us.  This  truth  enters  into  all 
genuine  Christian  experience.  It  is  of  the  essence  of 
the  universal  Christian  sentiment.  It  finds  its  expres- 
sion in  the  sacred  hymns  and  in  the  prayers  of  our  fel- 
low-Christians who  call  themselves  Arminians,  as  it  does 
in  the  prayers  and  hymns  of  those  commonly  styled  Cal- 
vinists.  All  alike  wrestle  in  prayer  as  if  God's  grace 
determined  the  decision.  All  alike  cry,  "Make  them 
willing,  O  God,  in  the  day  of  thy  power !"  It  is  the 
common  confession  of  all  alike  that  it  is  God  who  in  all 
things  works  in  us  to  do,  by  "  working  in  us  to  will,  of 
his  good  pleasure."  All  alike  ascribe  to  him  the  pre- 
rogative of  turning  the  hearts  of  men  even  as  rivers  of 
water  are  turned.  All  Christians  with  one  voice  cry, 
"  Not  unto  us,  O  Lord,  not  unto  us,  but  unto  thy  name 
10 


146  PREDESTINA  TION. 

give  glory,  for  thy  mercy  and  for  thy  truth's  sake."  In 
the  theology  of  the  heart  all  Christians  are  Calvinists ; 
that  is,  all  Christians  ascribe  all  their  salvation  unto  God. 
And  this  is  the  only  form  in  which  the  doctrine  of  sov- 
ereign predestination  should  be  insisted  upon  as  of  vital 
religious  interest. 

II.  The  real  question  remains,  "What  does  the  "Word 
of  God  say  upon  the  subject  ?  In  all  matters  of  contro- 
versy between  Christians,  the  Scriptures  constitute  the 
single  court  of  last  resort.  This  is  an  historical  princi- 
ple. To-day  it  remains  as  true  as  ever,  no  matter  what 
crude  theories  of  inspiration  some  parties  may  proclaim. 
The  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  have 
been  for  eighteen  centuries,  are  to-day  and  always  will 
remain,  the  only  common  authority  of  Christendom,  ac- 
knowledged by  all  alike. 

These  Scriptures  do  certainly  teach  a  divine  election 
of  persons  and  foreordi nation  of  events.  This  fact  all 
educated  persons  acknowledge.  The  only  controversy 
among  Christians  relates  to  the  range  of  the  foreordina- 
tion,  whether  it  comprehends  all  events  or  is  limited  to 
certain  classes;  and  to  the  subjects,  the  objects  and  the 
conditions  of  the  election  which  the  Scriptures  teach. 

1st.  All  Christians  of  course  admit  that  the  eternal 
Creator  of  the  world,  in  the  very  act  of  creation,  intelli- 
gently comprehending  the  end  from  the  beginning,  really, 
immutably  and  unconditionally  determined  all  classes  of 
events  subsequently  brought  about  by  the  necessary  se- 
quences of  natural  forces  and  laws.  As  far  as  the  uni- 
verse is  a  machine,  God  in  bringing  it  into  being,  and  in 
implanting  its  forces,  and  in  ordaining  its  laws,  necessarily 
determined  all  movements  of  the  machine  and  its  results 


PREDESTINATION.  147 

from  the  beginning  to  the  end.  But  there  has  been  a 
natural  shrinking  from  attributing  to  the  foreordination 
of  God  all  the  free  acts  of  men  and  angels,  and  especially 
the  sinful  acts  of  men  and  devils. 

Nevertheless,  the  Scriptures  are  very  explicit  upon 
these  points.  (1)  The  foreordination  of  God  does  in- 
clude the  free  actions  of  men  and  angels,  as  it  does  all 
other  classes  of  events  whatsoever.  God  works  in  man 
freely  and  spontaneously  to  loill  according  to  his  good 
pleasure  (Phil.  2:13).  Men  and  nations  are  the  mere 
instruments  (the  axe,  saw,  rod)  in  the  hand  of  God  to  do 
his  will  (Isa.  10  :  15).  God  definitely  predicts  the  free 
actions  of  men  ages  before  the  men  themselves  exist  (Isa. 
44  :  28 ;  45  : 1-4).  All  prophecy  implies  foreknowledge ; 
and  all  foreknowledge  on  the  part  of  a  God  who  has  in- 
telligently and  of  purpose  created  all  things  out  of  noth- 
ing, of  course  implies  the  foreordination  of  all  the  fore- 
seen results  of  that  creation.  If  even  one  so  limited  in 
knowledge  and  power  as  you  or  I  should  place  in  the 
hands  of  a  dependant  a  horse  that  we  certainly  knew 
would  run  away  on  that  road  and  in  the  hands  of  that 
man,  beyond  question  we  would  predetermine  that  run- 
away and  all  of  its  foreseen  results.  (2)  The  Scriptures 
go  even  farther,  and  declare  that  even  the  sinful  acts  of 
men  are  foreordained  by  God.  This  does  not  mean  that 
God  regards  the  wicked  acts  with  complacency,  or  that 
he  will  condone  them,  or  that  we  are  in  any  degree  ex- 
cusable for  acting  them,  much  less  that  God  is  their  au- 
thor or  cause,  directly  or  indirectly.  It  means,  simply, 
that  these  wicked  actions  were  a  clearly  foreknown  part 
of  a  system  of  things  which  God  freely  chose,  and  the 
future  existence  of  which  he  freely  and  righteously  de- 


148  PREDESTINATION. 

termined  for  good  and  sufficient  reasons,  the  evil  never 
being  ordained  as  an  end  in  itself,  but  always  as  a  means 
to  an  infinitely  greater  and  better  end.  Thus  in  the  his- 
tory of  Joseph  (compare  Gen.  37  :  28  with  Gen.  45  :  7, 
8  ;  50  :  20),  Joseph  said  to  his  treacherous  brethren  who 
sold  him  into  slavery,  "  So  now  it  was  not  you  that  sent 
me  hither,  but  God ;"  "  But  as  for  you,  ye  thought  evil 
against  me;  but  God  meant  it  unto  good"  (Ps.  17  :  13, 
14,  and  Isa.  10 :  5,  15).  The  greatest  crime  ever  com- 
mitted in  the  universe  was  the  crucifixion  of  the  Son  of 
God.  To  accomplish  this,  Gentiles  and  Jews  in  vast 
numbers  and  of  all  classes  freely  conspired.  Yet  their 
wicked  act  was  "  determined  beforehand  to  be  done  "  by 
the  determinate  counsel  and  foreknowledge  of  God  : 
"  Him  being  delivered  by  the  determinate  counsel  and 
foreknowledge  of  God,  ye  have  taken  and  by  wicked 
hands  have  crucified  and  slain  "  (Acts  2  :  23)  ;  "  For  of 
a  truth  against  thy  holy  child  Jesus,  whom  thou  hast 
anointed,  both  Herod  and  Pontius  Pilate,  with  the  Gen- 
tiles, and  the  people  of  Israel  were  gathered  together, 
for  to  do  whatsoever  thy  hand  and  thy  counsel  deter- 
mined before  to  be  done"  (Acts  4  :  27,  28  ;  13  :  29  ;  1 
Pet.  2:8;  Jude  4 ;  Rev.  17:17). 

2d.  As  to  the  doctrine  of  election,  and  of  the  con- 
fessedly various  "  elections  "  which  are  asserted  in  Script- 
ure, there  have  been  very  different  opinions  held  among 
Christians.  Those  who  lay  emphasis  upon  what  has 
been  entitled  the  "  theory  of  national  election,"  as  emi- 
nently the  late  Archbishop  Sumner,  maintain  that  the 
only  election  taught  in  Scripture  concerning  human  sal- 
vation consists  in  the  divine  predestination  of  communi- 
ties and  nations  to  the  knowledge  of  the  true  religion 


PREDESTINATION.  149 

and  to  the  external  privileges  of  the  gospel.  This  form 
of  election  is  an  unquestionable  biblical  fact,  and  has 
been  jDre-eminently  illustrated  in  the  people  of  Israel  in 
the  ancient  world  and  in  the  great  English-speaking  na- 
tions of  modern  times. 

Those  who,  like  Mr.  Stanley  Faber  and  Archbishop 
AYhately,  emphasize  what  they  call  the  "  theory  of  ec- 
clesiastical individualism,"  hold  that  the  only  personal 
election  taught  in  the  Bible  respects  the  election  of  in- 
dividual men  to  membership  in  the  external  Church  and 
the  means  of  grace.  This  also  is  an  uncmestionable 
scriptural  fact,  realized  in  the  experience  of  all  the 
members  of  the  Christian  community. 

Both  these  types  of  election,  both  of  nations  and  of 
individuals,  to  the  external  means  of  grace  are  obviously 
sovereign  and  unconditioned.  Both  men  and  nations  are 
born  to  these  privileges  irrespective  of  any  previous 
merits  or  actions  of  their  own.  And  as  to  these  forms 
of  God's  sovereign  election,  there  is  no  difference  of 
opinion  between  Arminians  and  Calvinists  or  other 
Christians  of  whatever  name. 

But  students  of  the  Scriptures  see  that  they  do  more- 
over teach  explicitly  that  God  does  elect  some  individ- 
uals to  eternal  blessedness  and  to  all  the  means  thereof. 
Here  the  precise  point  of  difference  between  Arminians 
and  Calvinists  comes  in.  The  old  Arminian  statement 
was  that  God  graciously  elected  the  class  of  believers  to 
everlasting  life,  and  that  if  any  individual  man  was  in- 
cluded in  the  election  it  was  because  he  was  included  in 
the  class  of  believers.  The  more  modern  Arminian 
statement  is  to  the  same  effect;  in  other  words,  that  God 
elected  certain  individuals  to  eternal  life  on  the  ground 


150  PREDESTINATION. 

of  their  faith  as  foreseen  by  him.  But  the  question 
necessarily  arises,  Where  did  these  individuals  come 
by  their  faith?  If  they  got  the  faith  of  themselves, 
then  their  salvation  is  not  entirely  of  grace  and  of 
God.  If  God  gave  them  their  faith,  then  it  was  in 
his  purpose.  And  if  it  was  embraced  in  his  purpose,  it 
could  not  have  been  the  condition  on  which  it  was  sus- 
pended. But  the  Scriptures  and  Christian  experience 
unite  in  affirming  that  "faith  is  the  gift  of  God"  (Eph. 
2:8;  Acts  5:31;  1  Cor.  4  :  7).  The  designed  effect, 
of  this  eternal  election  is  "  that  we  should  be  holy,  and 
without  blame  before  him  in  love "  (Eph.  1:4;  2:10; 
2  Thess.  2  :  13;  1  Pet,  1  :  2),  and  therefore  that  holy 
state  could  not  have  been  the  foreseen  condition  of  his 
choice.  The  very  gist  of  the  election  is  that  of  the 
children  who  "neither  had  done  good  or  evil,"  "that  the 
purpose  of  God  according  to  election  might  stand,  not 
of  works,  but  of  Him  that  calleth."  God  chose  one  and 
rejected  the  other.  The  very  gist  was  that  "  the  potter 
hath  power  over  the  clay,  of  the  same  lump  to  make  one 
vessel  unto  honor  and  another  unto  dishonor  "  (Rom.  9  : 
11,  21).  The  order  in  which  the  Holy  Spirit  puts  the 
matter  is  very  clear:  "As  many  as  were  ordained  to 
eternal  life  believed"  (Acts  13  :  48).  It  was  the  per- 
sonal foreordination  to  eternal  life  which  determined  the 
believing,  and  not  the  foreseen  believing  which  condi- 
tioned the  foreordination. 

The  true  comprehensive  statement  of  the  scriptural 
teaching  as  to  election  includes  all  those  just  stated.  The 
purpose  of  God  is  sovereign,  absolute  and  all-compre- 
hensive, relating  to  all  classes  of  events  whatsoever.  All 
nations  and  communities  and  individuals  have  been  pre- 


PREDESTINATION.  151 

destined  precisely  to  all  the  relations  and  means  of  grace 
they  experience,  and  to  all  the  results  thereof.  But  be- 
sides this,  the  Scriptures  explicitly  teach  an  election  («) 
of  individuals  (b)  to  salvation  and  to  all  the  means  and 
conditions  thereof,  (c)  founded,  not  upon  the  foreseen 
faith  of  the  persons  elected,  but  upon  the  infinitely  wise 
and  sovereign  purpose  of  God  alone  (Eph.  1  : 5—11 ;  2 
Tim.  1:9;  John  15  :  16,  19 ;  Matt.  11  :  25,  26 ;  Rom. 
9  :  10-18). 

III.  The  difficulty  which  all  feel  in  attempting  to  re- 
ceive this  unquestionable  truth  of  revelation,  and  assimi- 
late it  to  the  whole  mass  of  our  own  thinking,  respects 
(1)  the  freedom  and  responsibility  of  man,  and  (2)  the 
holiness  of  God.  How  can  man  be  free  if  from  eternity 
all  his  actions  have  been  certainly  determined  ?  And  if 
God  by  his  decree  makes  the  future  occurrence  of  each 
sin  absolutely  certain,  how  can  he  be  holy  ?  These  com- 
binations doubtless  present  puzzles  of  considerable  diffi- 
culty to  our  minds  in  their  present  state  of  enlighten- 
ment. But  these  do  not  in  any  degree  differ  from  a 
large  class  of  problems  which  the  imperfection  and  nar- 
rowness of  our  knowledge  prevent  us  from  solving. 
God's  decree,  it  is  obvious,  is  not  an  immediate  efficient 
cause  which  interferes  with  natural  causes  or  which 
brings  anything  into  being.  It  is  simply  an  immanent 
plan  or  purpose  in  the  divine  mind  which  determines  the 
certain  occurrence  of  the  events  to  which  it  relates.  The 
same  precisely  is  true  with  respect  to  the  divine  fore- 
knowledge. All  Christians  believe  that  God  eternally 
foreknows  whatsoever  shall  be  in  the  future.  If  his 
knowledge  is  real  knowledge,  it  is  certain,  and  if  it  is 
certain  as  knowledge,  the  events  to  which  it  relates  must 


152  PREDESTINATION. 

be  certainly  future.  If  the  difficulty  of  reconciling  cer- 
tainty with  the  freedom  of  man  or  with  the  holiness  of 
God  does  not  move  us  to  abandon  his  foreknowledge,  it 
cannot  be  a  rational  motive  for  our  denying  the  truth  of 
his  universal  predestination.  A  God  without  foreknowl- 
edge would  be  only  a  blind  force.  Every  argument 
which  establishes  Theism  on  the  evident  teleology  of  the 
universe  by  equal  cogency  establishes  the  divine  fore- 
knowledge. Without  the  foreknowledge  of  God  there 
would  be  no  intelligent  creation,  no  wise  moral  govern- 
ment, no  ground  for  religious  trust,  no  confidence  for  the 
future,  no  basis  either  for  the  prophecies  or  the  promises 
of  God.  The  foreknowledge  admitted,  there  is  no  log- 
ical reason  for  excepting  to  his  foreordination. 

1st.  As  to  the  beariug  of  this  doctrine  upon  the  free- 
dom of  man's  will.  It  must  be  remembered  that  uncer- 
tainty is  never  essential  to  liberty.  The  essence  of  lib- 
erty is  that  the  free  act  shall  be  self-originated  and  self- 
directed.  The  self-determination  of  an  undeveloped  child 
is  uncertain.  It  is  swayed  every  moment  by  external 
influences,  and  in  just  that  proportion  the  child's  action 
is  uncertain  and  lacks  the  highest  quality  of  moral  free- 
dom. But  the  choices  of  the  educated  and  thoroughly 
developed  man  in  his  ripe  maturity  are  far  more  certain 
both  to  himself  and  to  others.  He  is  not  open  to  exter- 
nal influence  or  liable  to  internal  whim  or  change,  and 
exactly  in  that  proportion  does  he  rise  to  the  highest 
level  of  moral  freedom.  He  thoroughly  understands 
himself  and  his  permanent  needs  and  wishes.  His 
character  is  formed,  and  freedom  is  the  genuine  and 
adequate  expression  of  character.  God's  purposes  and 
self-decisions  are  the  most  certain,  and  at  the  same  time 


PREDESTINATION.  153 

the  most  free,  of  any  actions  that  are  conceivable.  A 
drifting  boat  at  sea,  swept  hither  and  thither  by  the  winds 
and  waves,  is  an  admirable  type  of  action  utterly  devoid 
of  freedom  and  of  certainty.  It  has  no  self-control,  and 
therefore  its  action  is  equally  unfree  and  uncertain.  But 
a  great  steamship,  at  the  same  time  self-propelled  and 
self-steered,  is  an  admirable  type  both  of  freedom  and 
of  certainty.  Its  action  is  predetermined,  foreseen,  and 
may  confidently  be  relied  upon,  because  it  is  free ;  that  is, 
in  the  intelligent  will  of  its  navigator,  acting  through  its 
powerful  machinery,  it  possesses  in  the  highest  degree 
self-control  and  intelligent  self-direction. 

The  eternal  foreordination  of  God,  which  determines 
at  once  the  certainty  and  the  freedom  of  man's  free 
actions,  can  in  no  way  interfere  with  man's  freedom. 
The  action  is  not  free  if  it  is  determined  from  without, 
but  it  is  free  if  determined  from  within  a  rational  will. 
Now,  this  is  precisely  what  God's  foreordination  of  man's 
free  action  effects.  The  decree  at  the  same  time  deter- 
mines that  man  shall  be  a  free  agent,  shall  possess  a  cer- 
tain character,  shall  be  surrounded  by  a  certain  environ- 
ment, shall  be  specifically  solicited  by  certain  external 
influences,  shall  be  internally  moved  by  certain  sponta- 
neous affections,  shall  deliberately  canvass  certain  reasons 
and  shall  freely  make  a  certain  choice.  The  man  thus 
is,  as  far  as  a  finite  creature  may  be,  entirely  self-moved 
and  self-determined,  and  therefore  he  is  free.  The  fact 
that  his  act  is  also  certain  is,  as  we  have  seen,  and  as 
Richard  Watson,  the  great  theologian  of  the  Wesleyan 
Arminians,  admits,  no  ground  of  presumption  that  it  is 
not  also  absolutely  free. 

2d.  As  to  the  consistency  of  God's  foreordination  of 


154  PREDESTINATION. 

sill  with  his  holiness,  we  have  nothing  to  say,  except  to 
admit  the  mystery,  and  to  affirm  that  there  is  no  possible 
escape  except  in  denying  the  fact  either  of  the  existence 
of  God  on  the  one  hand,  or  of  the  existence  of  sin  on 
the  other.  If  the  cause  which  produced  the  universe 
did  not  foresee  the  sin  which  the  present  system  embraces, 
then  that  cause  was  a  blind,  unintelligent  force,  and  not 
God.  If  he  did  foresee  it,  and  notwithstanding  pro- 
ceeded to  bring  that  system,  involving  these  sins,  into 
existence,  then  he  made  their  occurrence  certain ;  he 
foreordained  them.  God  did  with  his  eyes  open  choose, 
out  of  a  myriad  of  other  possible  systems,  this  actual 
system  involving  sin.  He  nevertheless  is  holy.  He 
hates,  forbids,  punishes,  restrains  and  overrules  the  sin 
for  good.  In  the  light  of  the  cross  of  Christ,  on  which 
God  lays  upon  his  Son  the  penalty  of  human  sin,  in 
the  light  of  the  great  white  throne  and  of  the  Lamb 
which  irradiates  the  eternal  city,  the  mystery  of  the 
divine  permission  of  sin  loses  its  overwhelming  force. 
We  have  no  complete  solution  of  the  problem,  and  it  is 
not  to  be  expected  in  our  present  stage  of  education. 
But  we  do  see  the  light  underneath  the  curtain.  We  do 
possess  pledges  for  the  immaculate  holiness  of  God,  and 
for  the  future  moral  perfection  of  his  realm,  and  for  the 
moral  vindication  of  his  reign,  which  suffice  for  the  per- 
fect assurance  of  our  faith. 

IV.  Everything  depends,  in  all  departments  of  human 
thought,  upon  the  point  of  view.  Every  one  knows 
that,  when  traversing  the  scenes  of  a  great  battle,  what 
appears  to  be  inextricable  confusion  to  us  while  we  are 
passing  along  the  outskirts  and  through  the  lower 
grounds,  falls  into  complete  order  and  appears  as  clear  as 


PREDESTINATION.  155 

light  when  we  overlook  the  whole  field  from  the  strategic 
centre  from  which  the  eye  and  mind  of  the  field  marshal 
beheld  and  controlled  the  contest.  We  all  know  that 
the  heavens  continued  through  all  past  ages  to  be  an 
insoluble  riddle  to  all  looking  upon  them  from  the  ex- 
terior and  shifting  standpoint  of  the  earth.  The  move- 
ments of  the  sun  and  moon  and  of  the  wandering  plan- 
ets could  be  reduced  to  no  intelligible  plan.  But  the 
moment  that  in  imagination  the  great  Copernicus  trans- 
ferred the  point  of  view  from  the  earth  to  the  central 
sun,  all  the  hosts  of  heaven  fell  into  rank,  and  have  ever 
since  been  seen  to  march  onward  in  a  symmetrical  order 
absolutely  divine.  In  the  morning,  if  we  look  eastward 
over  a  vast  landscape  with  the  sun  before  us,  we  see  all 
things  obscurely  on  their  shadowed  side.  But  if  we  look 
from  the  same  point  eastward  in  the  evening,  with  the 
sun  behind  us,  we  see  all  the  objects  contained  in  the 
vast  panorama  glorified  on  the  sunlit  side. 

In  like  manner  must  it  be  with  all  men,  when  looking 
over  the  vast  reaches  of  Jehovah's  plans  or  works  from 
below.  No  matter  how  intellectual  they  may  be  person- 
ally, no  matter  how  vast  their  knowledge  otherwise,  it 
is  just  a  matter  of  course  that,  from  their  human,  chang- 
ing outlook,  as  they  are  themselves  swept  along  in  the 
current  of  events,  the  relations  of  all  objects  should  be 
confused.  And  especially  must  the  relation  of  the  sev- 
eral parts  to  God  be  misconceived,  seen  as  they  are  on 
their  shadowed  side. 

But,  on  the  contrary,  if  we  take  our  mental  stand  at 
the  centre,  and  from  God's  point  of  view  look  down  upon 
the  events  of  time  from  their  common  centre,  with  their 
eternal  side  illumined,  as  far  as  our  vision  goes  we  shall 


156  PREDESTINATION. 

see  them  fall  into  perfect  order,  and  especially  will  we 
discern  their  symmetrical  relation  as  a  whole  to  the  Source 
from  which  they  issue,  and  the  presiding  authority  by 
which  they  are  marshaled  on  their  way. 

It  is  self-evident  that  if  we  look  out  at  any  time  and 
from  any  point  upon  our  environment,  we  must  see  things 
in  the  accidental  relations  in  which  they  happen  to  group 
themselves  along  our  line  of  vision  as  we  sweep  past  on 
our  course.  We  must  also,  by  the  same  necessity,  see 
things  in  partial  groups  detached  from  their  surround- 
ings. If  we  conceive  of  any  one  event  being  caused  by 
any  other  single  event,  we  are  led  to  confusion,  because 
all  things  that  exist  constitute  one  articulated  system,  and 
every  event  is  determined  not  by  one  single  antecedent 
cause,  but  by  the  whole  system  of  things,  the  entire  equi- 
librium of  the  universe,  that  precedes  it.  So  if  we  con- 
ceive of  God  as  absolutely  foreordaining  individual  events 
disconnected  from  the  entire  system  of  causes,  conditions 
and  consequents  of  which  they  form  a  part,  we  shall 
necessarily  be  embarrassed  by  contradictious.  God  could 
not  certainly  foreordain  one  event  without  foreordaining 
every  event — without  tearing  the  system  to  pieces  and 
bringing  utter  confusion  into  natural  law  and  human 
thought.  For  instance,  a  chronometer  is  a  whole  con- 
sisting of  many  parts  rigidly  articulated  and  exquisitely 
adjusted  to  each  other.  It  would,  evidently,  be  impos- 
sible for  the  most  skillful  mechanic  to  run  his  fingers 
into  the  plexus  of  the  wheels  and  springs,  with  the  intent 
of  controlling  the  action  of  one  part  irrespective  of  the 
rest,  without  working  confusion  and  ruin.  Nevertheless, 
the  chronometer  as  a  whole,  with  all  its  contents  freely 
working  according  to  their  law,  undisturbed,  may  be 


PREDESTINATION.  157 

lifted  aud  carried  round  the  world  without  changrina:  the 
relation  or  interdependence  of  part  on  part.  In  like  man- 
ner, if  we  will  only  make  the  effort  to  look  upon  the 
universe  from  God's  point  of  view  as  one  all-comprehen- 
sive, complete  system  in  itself,  much  of  the  apparent  dif- 
ficulty attending  the  principle  of  eternal  predestination 
will  disappear. 

We  can  possibly  conceive  of  the  intelligence  of  God 
only  so  far  forth  as  its  laws  are  analogous  to  those  of  the 
intellect  of  man.  We  can  only  think  of  his  mind  as 
eternally  teeming  with  all  possible  systems,  embracing 
all  possible  creatures,  grouped  in  all  possible  relations 
and  subject  to  all  possible  laws.  By  the  "  possible  "  we 
mean  every  existence  that  can  be  under  the  limits  of 
God's  infinitely  wise  and  righteous  nature.  Out  of  all 
possible  systems  as  wholes  God  chose  the  existing  system 
of  the  universe,  including  all  existence,  spiritual  and  ma- 
terial, that  has  been,  is  or  will  be,  constituted  as  it  is, 
with  all  its  parts  mutually  interdependent  as  they  are,  as 
one  whole.  Viewed  in  this  way,  there  is  no  conflict. 
The  cause  produces  its  effects,  the  event  depends  on  its 
conditions  ;  necessary  agents  act  according  to  their  na- 
ture, and  free  agents  exercise  spontaneously  their  perfect 
freedom :  all  the  parts  of  the  system  act  according  to 
their  several  kinds ;  nevertheless,  the  system  as  a  whole, 
including  all  its  parts,  has  been  from  eternity  made  cer- 
tain by  the  sovereign  choice  of  God. 

The  point  of  view  from  which  all  difficulty  disappears 
is  infinitely  higher  and  commands  infinitely  wider  reaches 
of  thought  than  the  point  of  view  from  which  foreordi- 
nation  and  free-will  are  seen  to  be  inconsistent.  The 
new  theology,  asserting  the  narrowness  of  the  old,  is  dis- 


158  PREDESTINA  TION. 

carding  the  foreordination  of  Jehovah  as  a  worn-out  fig- 
ment of  the  schools  discredited  by  the  advanced  culture 
of  to-day.  This  is  not  the  first  time  that  the  owls,  mis- 
taking the  shadow  of  a  passing  eclipse  for  their  native 
night,  have  prematurely  hooted  at  the  eagles,  convinced 
that  what  is  invisible  to  them  cannot  possibly  exist. 

V.  It  is  often  objected  to  the  biblical  doctrine  of  pre- 
destination that,  however  much  it  may  be  apparently 
supported  by  the  language  of  Scripture,  it  is  utterly  an- 
tagonized by  all  established  truth  in  every  other  depart- 
ment of  human  thought — by  all  the  united  testimonies 
of  philosophy  and  science.  This  preposterous  claim  is 
loudly  voiced,  even  by  some  of  the  professed  advocates 
of  progress  in  theology.  But  the  facts  are  all  absolutely 
to  the  contrary.  So  much  is  this  the  case,  so  universally 
do  ail  the  real  governing  currents  of  modern  thought 
outside  of  Christian  theology  run  in  the  direction  of 
universal  determinism,  rather  than  in  that  of  the  admis- 
sion of  the  indeterminate,  the  contingent,  the  sponta- 
neous and  free,  that  many  of  us  who  are  the  staunchest 
Calvinists  feel  that  the  need  of  the  hour  is  not  to  em- 
phasize a  foreordination,  which  no  clear,  comprehensive 
thinker  doubts,  but  to  unite  with  our  Arminian  brethren 
in  putting  all  emphasis  and  concentrating  all  attention  on 
the  vital  fact  of  human  freedom.  That  our  conscious- 
ness of  personal  freedom  is  reliable,  that  we  in  a  true 
sense  stand  outside  of  the  current  of  necessary  causation 
and  do  truly  originate  and  give  direction  to  our  own 
actions,  is  a  principle  fundamental  to  all  morals  and  all 
religion.  Its  permanent  vindication  is  the  one  only  and 
effectual  solvent  of  all  Pantheism  and  all  Materialism. 
So  strong  does  the  current  set  on  all  sides  throughout 


PREDESTINATION.  159 

the  sphere  of  human  speculation,  in  favor  of  the  con- 
viction of  universal  preordination,  that  we  can  afford  to 
leave  its  vindication  to  others,  while  we  support  with 
our  suffrages  the  neglected  though  essential  counter-truth 
of  the  real  freedom  of  the  human  soul. 

All  the  philosophy  and  science  of  the  century  is  deter- 
ministic. The  great  argument  of  Jonathan  Edwards 
against  the  liberty  of  contingency  and  in  favor  of  the 
liberty  of  certainty  has  been  taken  up  and  intensified  by 
John  Stuart  Mill  and  Herbert  Spencer  to  support  the 
doctrine  of  necessity.  The  universally  received  scientific 
principle  of  continuity  involves  this  principle  of  foreor- 
dination.  The  now  almost  universally  prevalent  scien- 
tific doctrine  of  evolution  in  all  its  infinite  variety  of 
forms,  and  in  every  form  alike,  involves  this  principle 
of  foreordination.  The  funniest  reading  accessible  even 
in  this  humorous  age  is  that  in  which  a  progressive 
theologian,  committing  himself  everywhere  to  the  evo- 
lution method,  yet  declares  that  the  doctrine  of  divine 
foreordination  is  false  because  unscientific.  All  philoso- 
phies which  are  either  materialistic  in  tendency  or  pan- 
theistic or  purely  theistic  necessarily  involve  the  prin- 
ciple of  foreordination. 

Every  conceivable  philosophy  must  ultimately  found 
the  universe  upon  mechanism,  chance  or  upon  personal 
intelligence  and  will.  If  mechanism  be  the  ultimate 
self-existent  principle  out  of  which  the  universe  is  de- 
veloped and  operated,  then  fatalism  is  true.  If  chance 
be  the  ultimate  principle,  then  accident,  contingency,  un- 
certainty must  be  in  the  method,  and  chaos  the  ultimate 
goal.  If  a  personal,  intelligent  will  be  the  ultimate 
principle,  then  Providence  is  the  executive  in  time  of  an 


160  PREDESTINATION. 

eternal  purpose.  All  philosophies  may  be  classified  under 
these  heads.  All  the  possibilities  of  speculation  must 
lie  within  these  limits.  Instead  of  our  doctrine  of  fore- 
ordination  being  the  same  with  the  heathen  doctrine  of 
fate,  it  is  its  absolute  opposite  and  only  alternative.  We 
are  shut  up  to  a  choice  between  the  two — either  a  fatal- 
ism which  results  from  mechanical  coaction,  or  a  fatalism 
which  results  from  a  mindless  and  purposeless  chance,  or 
an  all-controlling  providence  of  a  heavenly  Father  who 
in  the  exercise  of  his  own  personal  freedom  has  made 
room  for  ours.  All  thinkers  who  understand  themselves 
know  that  they  run  along  one  or  other  of  these  lines. 
The  wiseacres  who  plead  the  authority  of  philosophy  and 
science  as  inconsistent  with  the  scriptural  doctrine  of 
predestination  may  be  safely  left  to  themselves.  They 
will  not  be  found  to  be  dangerous  enemies  even  behind 
our  backs. 

VI.  Here,  as  everywhere  else,  there  is  essential  truth 
on  both  sides  of  every  controversy,  and  the  real  truth 
is  the  whole  truth,  its  entire  catholic  body.  Arminian- 
ism  in  the  abstract  as  an  historical  scheme  is  a  heresy, 
holding  half  the  truth.  Calvinism  is  an  historical  scheme 
which  in  its  best  representatives  comprehends  the  whole 
truth  with  considerable  completeness.  But  the  case  is 
essentially  different  when  we  come  to  consider  the  great 
coexisting  bodies  of  Christian  people  calling  themselves 
respectively  Calvinists  and  Arminians.  Each  of  these 
parties  hold  all  essential  truth,  and  therefore  they  hold 
actually  very  much  the  same  truth.  The  Arminians 
think  and  speak  very  much  like  Calvinists  when  they 
come  to  talk  with  God  in  either  the  confession  of  sin  or 
the  supplication  for  grace.    They  both  alike  in  that  atti- 


PREDESTINATION.  161 

tude  recognize  the  sovereignty  of  God  and  the  guilt  and 
helplessness  of  men.  Indeed,  how  could  it  be  other- 
wise ?  What  room  is  there  for  anything  other  than  es- 
sential Calvinism  on  one's  knees  ?  On  the  other  hand, 
the  Calvinist  thinks  and  speaks  like  the  better  class  of 
Arminians  when  he  addresses  the  consciences  of  men, 
and  pleads  with  them  as  free  responsible  agents  to  re- 
pent and  believe  in  Christ.  The  difference  between  the 
best  of  either  class  is  one  of  emphasis  rather  than  of  es- 
sential principle.  Each  is  the  complement  of  the  other. 
Each  is  necessary  to  restrain,  correct  and  supply  the  one- 
sided strain  of  the  other.  They  together  give  origin  to 
the  blended  strain  from  which  issues  the  perfect  music 
which  utters  the  perfect  truth. 

VII.  It  is  now-a-days  frequently  predicted  by  men  in 
high  places  that  the  distinctive  doctrines  of  Calvinism 
are  doomed.  The  future  is  uncertain.  The  role  of 
prophet  is  unprofitable  and  unbecoming.  But  the  his- 
tory of  the  past  stands  fast.  The  doctrine  of  predesti- 
nation, with  its  associated  system  of  truths,  has  had  a 
wonderful  history.  All  world-movers  have  believed  it 
surely  and  have  taught  it  clearly — Paul,  St.  Augustine, 
all  the  Eeformers  without  exception.  During  the  eleven 
hundred  years  which  elapsed 'from  the  time  of  Augustine 
to  that  of  Luther  all  the  best  of  the  Schoolmen,  all  the 
great  missionary  movements,  the  revivals  of  true  reliff- 
ion,  the  extension  of  popular  education,  and  all  great 
healthy  political  reforms  had  their  common  inspiration 
in  Augustinian  theology.  All  the  great  national  move- 
ments in  France,  Germany,  Switzerland,  Italy  and  Brit- 
ain in  the  era  of  the  Reformation,  and  all  the  great  na- 
tional leaders,  as  Luther,  Zwingle,  Calvin,  Craumer  and 
11 


162  PREDESTTNA  TION. 

Knox,  were  distinctively  Augustinian  and  were  rooted 
in  predestination.  The  most  moral  people  of  all  history, 
the  Puritans,  Pietists,  Huguenots,  Reformed  Dutch  of 
Holland  and  German  of  the  Palatinate,  and  the  Scotch 
and  the  Scotch-Irish  of  Ulster  and  the  United  States, 
were  all  Calvinists.  Calvin,  William  of  Orange,  Crom- 
well and  the  Presbyterian  and  Congregational  founders 
of  the  government  of  the  United  States,  and  all  the 
great  creators  of  modern  civil  liberty,  were  Calvinists. 
All  modern  provision  for  universal  education  sprang 
from  the  Scotch  parochial  school  and  the  New  England 
college.  The  patriots,  Free-State  makers,  martyrs,  mis- 
sionaries of  all  the  modern  era  have  been,  in  nine  hun- 
dred and  ninety-nine  parts  out  of  the  thousand,  distinct- 
ively Calvinist. 

This  history  is  glorious  and  secure  past  all  contradic- 
tion. It  is  natural  also — a  natural  outgrowth  of  conse- 
quences out  of  principles.  Predestination  exalts  God 
and  abases  man  before  God.  It  makes  all  men  low  be- 
fore God,  but  high  and  strong  before  kings.  It  founds 
on  a  basis  of  eternal  rock  one  absolute  Sovereign  to 
whose  will  there  is  no  limit,  but  it  levels  all  other  sov- 
ereigns in  the  dust.  It  renders  Christ  great,  and  the  be- 
lieving sinner  infinitely  secure  in  him.  It  establishes 
the  highest  conceivable  standard  of  righteousness,  and 
secures  the  operation  of  the  most  effective  motives  to 
obedience.  It  extinguishes  fear,  it  makes  victory  certain, 
it  inspires  with  enthusiasm,  it  makes  both  the  heart  and 
the  arm  strong.  The  Ironsides  of  Cromwell  made  the 
decree  of  predestination  their  base ;  hence  they  never  lost 
a  battle,  and  always  began  the  swelling  chorus  of  victory 
from  the  first  moment  that  the  ranks  were  formed.     The 


PREDESTINATION.  163 

man  to  whom  in  all  the  universe  there  is  no  God  is  an 
atheist.  The  man  to  whom  God  is  distant,  and  to  whom 
the  influence  of  God  is  vague  and  uncertain,  is  an  Ar- 
minian.  But  he  who  altogether  lives  and  moves  and  has 
all  his  being  in  the  immanent  Jehovah  is  a  Calvinist. 
There  is,  thank  God !  room  for  Arminians  in  the  Church 
on  earth  while  the  faces  of  so  many  look  earthward  and 
we  are  sadly  oppressed  by  the  current  of  the  things 
which  are  seen  and  temporal.  But  who  will  doubt  the 
truth  of  Calvinism  when  we  stand  with  open  eye  and  ear 
in  the  world  of  spirits,  before  the  unveiled  front  of  the 
great  white  throne,  and  God  is  all  and  in  all  ? 


LECTURE  VIII. 

THE  ORIGINAL  STATE  OF  MAN. 

Theology,  as  a  science,  has  to  do  with  the  great 
questions  which  concern  God  and  man  and  their  rela- 
tions. Consequently,  it  has  been  the  habit  of  theologians 
to  group  these  together  under  different  classes,  in  this 
order.  First,  we  have  the  topics  which  come  under  the 
head  of  Theology  proper,  which  concern  the  being  of 
God,  the  thinking  or  willing  of  God,  and  the  acting  of 
God.  The  second  great  province  is  that  of  Anthropol- 
ogy, which  concerns  man,  his  origin,  his  nature,  his 
original  condition,  his  apostasy,  and  the  consequences 
thereof  to  the  race.  The  third  great  division  is  that  of 
Soteriology,  which  concerns  God's  plan  of  redemption, 
the  divine  Saviour  whom  he  has  provided,  and  his  gra- 
cious work  as  our  Prophet,  Priest  and  King.  The  fourth 
and  last  group  is  Eschatology,  that  which  relates  to  the 
last  things  which  remain  still  before  the  Church,  such  as 
the  second  coming  of  Christ,  the  millennium,  the  general 
judgment,  the  resurrection  of  the  dead,  the  intermediate 
state  and  the  rewards  of  happiness  and  of  punishment 
which  are  to  come  after. 

What  we  have  had  to  say  in  the  preceding  seven  lect- 
ures fell  under  the  first  great  department  of  theology — 
Theology  proper ;  to  wit,  God,  his  attributes,  his  relation 
to  the  universe,  his  providence,  the  method  of  it,  and 
the  plan  of  it  and  his  constitution  as  a  divine  Person. 

164 


THE  ORIGINAL  STATE  OF  MAN.  165 

Now  we  begin  the  department  of  Anthropology,  and 
of  course  the  first  question  which  emerges  must  be  nec- 
essarily as  to  the  original  state  of  man.  Those  questions 
which  coucern  man's  origin  and  fall  come  under  various 
heads,  which  might,  if  we  had  time,  be  discussed  for 
many  days,  such  as  the  origin  of  man,  so  called  ;  second, 
the  nature  of  man,  what  elements  constitute  man,  what 
constitutes  the  soul  and  body,  or  spirit,  soul  and  body, 
etc.  Then  as  to  the  origin  of  the  human  soul  itself:  is 
it  created  by  God  ?  is  it  generated  by  the  parent  from 
the  parent?  or  is  it  from  God,  created  by  God,  in  each 
individual  case  ?  And  then  the  great  question  as  to  the 
unity  of  the  human  race,  and  whether  all  these  great  di- 
versities, physical,  intellectual  and  moral,  have  been  gen- 
erated from  the  same  parents? — first  from  the  original 
pair,  Adam  and  Eve,  and  then  from  Noah  and  his  fam- 
ily ?  And  lastly,  What  was  the  original  state  of  man  ? 
what  was  his  condition — the  man  who  had  no  yesterday, 
who  had  no  father  and  mother,  who  came  to  conscious- 
ness as  an  adult  individual,  without  previous  infancy 
and  without  education? 

The  answer  the  Bible  gives  as  to  the  origin  of  man  is 
very  explicit  and  very  plain,  and  yet  it  does  not  satisfy 
all  questions.  And  I  want  to  say — and  say  it  as  a  man 
who  has  devoted  his  life  to  systematic  theology — if  any 
class  of  men  have  ever  erred  in  the  direction  which  I 
am  going  to  speak  about  to-day,  systematic  theologians 
have  erred  when  they  mapped  it  out  so  sharply.  It  is 
one  thing  to  stand  faithfully  by  what  God  says  ;  it  is  an- 
other thing  to  draw  inferences  from  what  God  says.  Our 
principles  as  Protestants  make  us  deal  with  the  Bible 


166  THE  ORIGINAL  STATE  OF  MAN. 

alone,  and  not  with  systems  of  divinity  and  not  with 
inferences  from  what  the  Bible  says. 

(1)  Now,  the  Bible  asserts,  in  the  first  place,  that  God 
made  the  body  of  man  out  of  the  dust  of  the  earth.  The 
questions  which  arise  are,  What  do  we  mean  by  "made"? 
and  what  do  we  mean  by  "  dust  of  the  earth  "  ?  Ob- 
viously, we  do  not  mean  absolute  creation.  The  only 
instance  of  this  absolute  creation  that  we  find  recorded 
in  Scripture  is  in  the  first  verse,  "  In  the  beginning — " 
in  the  absolute  beginning,  which  marks  the  emergence 
of  time  out  of  eternity,  which  marks  the  first  step  in  the 
order  of  creation  under  the  conditions  of  time  and  space 
— "  In  the  beginning  God  created,"  gave  origin,  being, 
to  all  the  elements  out  of  which  the  stellar  universe  is 
formed.  First  it  is  the  great  Eternal ;  afterward  you 
have  "chaos." 

There  is  a  wonderful  accord  between  the  general  find- 
ings of  modern  science  and  the  true  meaning  of  revela- 
tion. You  have  first  the  creation  of  the  elements  out 
of  nothing.  You  have  then  the  abyss  without  form  and 
void,  the  chaos ;  and  then  you  have  the  Spirit  of  God, 
the  informing  spirit  of  life  and  thought  and  power,  ope- 
rating over  the  face  of  the  abyss ;  and  then  you  have, 
not  the  sudden,  but  the  gradual  movement  of  the  ele- 
ments ;  and  from  them  the  building  up,  through  success- 
ive ages,  by  the  power  of  God,  of  this  wondrous  Cosmos, 
this  harmonious  universe. 

The  immediate  creation  is  the  making  all  things  out 
of  nothing  by  the  word  of  his  power ;  but  the  mediate 
creation  is  the  making  of  new  things  out  of  old  things ; 
that  is,  the  buildiug  up  of  new  things  out  of  old  ele- 
ments— new  entities,  new  species,  the  origination  of  new 


THE  ORIGINAL  STATE  OF  MAN.  167 

forms,  new  constitutions  out  of  the  elements  of  which 
they  are  composed.  The  Bible  says  God  made  man  out 
of  the  dust  of  the  earth.  He  first  makes  dust,  and  then 
he  makes  man  out  of  it.  So  God  is  the  entire  maker  of 
man.  It  would  be  very  childish  to  put  a  literal  mean- 
ing to  this  word  "dust,"  which  is  translated  from  the 
Hebrew,  another  language.  It  does  not  mean  simply 
"  dust  •"  you  could  not  make  man  out  of  common  clay, 
because  it  does  not  contain  all  the  elements  which  con- 
stitute man.  "When  you  analyze  the  body  of  man  you 
find  it  consists  of  lime,  phosphorus,  iron,  carbon,  nitro- 
gen, hydrogen  and  a  great  many  other  elements.  These 
do  not  all  exist  in  clay.  What  is  meant  is,  that  God  made 
man  out  of  pre-existing  elements,  which  God  had  him- 
self first  created.  These  are  everywhere :  they  are  in 
the  atmosphere ;  they  are  in  the  water ;  they  are  in  the 
soil ;  and  they  were  ever  present  from  the  time  of  the 
first  creation,  existing,  possessing  qualities  with  which 
God  originally  endowed  them ;  and  it  is  out  of  these 
pre-existing  elements  of  the  material  universe  that  God 
formed,  by  his  own  power  and  will,  the  body  of  man. 

(2)  The  second  point  which  is  taught  in  Scripture 
clearly  is  that  God  breathed  into  man  the  breath  of  life, 
so  that  he  became  a  living  soul.  Now  the  question  is, 
of  course,  What  is  here  meant  by  breathing,  God's 
breathing,  into  man  ?  There  is  a  conception  that  God, 
as  it  is  expressed,  "  breathed  "  into  man  a  part  of  his 
own  Spirit,  and  that  the  human  soul,  proceeding  from 
God  immediately,  is  a  part  or  particle  of  God  aud  of  the 
divine  Spirit.  Now,  I  confess  that  seems  to  me  meta- 
physically absurd,  and  also  profane  in  its  tendency.  I 
do  not  like  that  idea.     In  the  first  place,  God  is  a  spirit 


168  THE  ORIGINAL  STATE  OF  MAN. 

and  cannot  be  divided.  It  is  of  the  very  essence  of 
matter  that  it  has  extension;  that  it  has  length  and 
breadth  and  thickness ;  that  it  is  composed  of  the  union 
of  elements,  and  that  these  elements  can  be  united  to- 
gether or  separated  one  from  another,  or  that  matter  can 
be  divided  into  its  parts.  It  is  not  rational  to  believe 
that  a  spirit  can  be  divided  into  parts  •  therefore,  it  is 
not  rational  to  believe  that  God  breathed  a  part  of  his 
own  Spirit  into  mau.  And  besides  this,  reason  teaches 
that  the  attributes  are  the  active  powers  of  the  substance 
of  spirit  and  cannot  be  separated  from  it.  Now,  if  God 
should  give  to  me  a  part  of  his  Spirit,  I  should  have  in- 
finite attributes,  the  attributes  of  the  Spirit  of  God. 
These  are  eternity,  omniscience,  omnipoteuce  and  ab- 
solutely perfect  and  undeviating  righteousness;  there- 
fore, if  the  spirit  of  man  were  a  part  of  the  Spirit 
of  God,  the  spirit  of  man  would  be  eternal,  unchange- 
able, omniscient,  omnipotent,  etc.,  which  we  know  ab- 
solutely to  be  untrue,  and  the  very  thought  of  which 
we  reject.  Or,  God  might  have  created  the  spirit  of  man 
out  of  nothing  :  that  is  what  we  believe ;  but  the  differ- 
ence between  soul  and  body  is  just  of  course  the  essential 
difference  between  matter  and  spirit.  Matter  consists  of 
its  parts,  its  potency,  its  capability  of  position,  its  capa- 
bility of  division.  The  body  can  be  built  up  part  by 
part ;  the  body  can  be  dissolved  part  by  part ;  but  the 
soul  of  man  is  an  absolute  unit  of  consciousness.  "When 
my  body  acts,  it  acts  by  reason  of  the  organs  which  are 
external  to  one  another ;  my  hand  is  in  one  place  and 
my  foot  in  another,  my  brain  in  one  place  and  my  stom- 
ach in  another.  But  the  whole  soul  of  man,  with  its 
functions,  is  a  single  organ ;  the  one  soul  thinks,  feels, 


THE  ORIGINAL  STATE  OF  MAN.  169 

wills  and  acts,  and  therefore  the  soul  in  its  particular 
essence  is  indivisible ;  therefore  it  cannot  be  made.  I 
cannot  conceive  how  the  soul  can  be  generated.  The 
body  is  generated,  but  the  soul  is  created.  This  is  the 
doctrine  of  the  Church.  God,  at  the  moment  of  con- 
ception, creates  a  new  soul  out  of  nothing  by  the  word 
of  his  power ;  communicates  to  the  germ  new  life,  and 
this  soul,  existing  in  the  germ,  builds  up  the  body ;  so 
the  body  comes  to  be  the  expression  of  the  soul.  That 
is  the  ground  of  physiology :  that  the  body  develops  be- 
cause of  the  soul,  and  that  the  soul  ab  initio  is  the  build- 
ing principle  by  which  it  is  built  up.  Just  as  your  tail- 
or configures  your  coat  to  your  body,  so  by  the  principles 
of  growth  your  soul  configures  your  body,  so  that  your 
soul  is  expressed  in  your  body  as  the  soul's  instrument. 
That  is  what  is  understood  by  God  "breathing  the  breath 
of  life  " — that  is,  creating  the  soul  within  us.  You  may 
ask  why  use  the  word  "  breath  "  ?  That  can  easily  be 
answered.  God  must  speak  to  man,  not  philosophically, 
but  according  to  the  laws  of  humanity  and  the  limits  of 
human  thought.  Now,  it  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  the 
word  for  "  spirit "  in  all  languages,  so  far  as  I  know,  was 
originally  based  upon  the  figure  of  breath.  The  Latin 
sjriritus,  the  Greek  pneuma,  the  Hebrew  ruah  and  our 
word  "  spirit,"  all  mean  breath,  and  the  reason  for  this 
is  that  men  get  their  ideas  from  their  conditions.  Men 
originally  were  like  children,  and  when  they  saw  a  man 
die  the  first  thing  they  noticed  was  that  he  did  not 
breathe.  When  they  began  to  look  around  and  to  think, 
they  found  the  only  thing  which  indicated  life  or  the  ab- 
sence of  it  was  just  the  presence  or  absence  of  this  fleet- 
ing breath.      Thus  men  came  very  naturally,  as   the 


170  THE  ORIGINAL  STATE  OF  MAN. 

breath  was  invisible,  to  associate  the  thinking,  feeling 
and  willing  principle  with  the  breath.  To  think  and  to 
breathe  was  to  have  a  soul ;  and  to  put  the  soul  into  man 
was  therefore  very  naturally  described  as  breathing  into 
him  the  breath  of  life.  Man  is  a  living,  breathing  thing. 
But  the  points  clearly  taught  are  that  God  made  the  body 
by  his  power  out  of  pre-existing  material,  and  that  he 
created  the  soul  by  his  power  and  put  it  into  the  body. 

(3)  There  is  a  third  point  we  have  to  consider  at  this 
time :  The  Bible  teaches  that,  seeing  Adam  needed  a 
companion,  it  was  necessary  that  God,  having  made  him 
male,  should  complete  his  being  by  making  for  him 
a  wife,  and  that  this  should  not  be  a  new  creation,  be- 
cause from  the  nature  of  man  we  constitute  a  race :  there 
is  a  solidarity  in  our  race.  When  Jesus  Christ  became 
incarnate,  it  would  not  answer  to  make  him  a  body  like 
man,  for  then  he  would  not  have  been  a  human  being. 
The  only  way  Almighty  God  can  make  a  human  being 
is  by  generation.  In  order  that  there  should  not  be  two 
absolutely  independent  creations  united  together,  God  put 
a  deep  sleep  upon  Adam,  and,  taking  from  him  a  rib, 
made  out  of  it  a  woman.  That  is  what  the  Bible  says 
distinctly  and  clearly,  and  it  cannot  be  got  rid  of.  There- 
fore, I  maintain  that  these  three  points  are  true :  that 
the  body  of  man  was  made  out  of  pre-existing  materials; 
that  the  soul  of  man  was  created  by  the  mighty  power 
of  God ;  and  that  Eve  was  made  from  Adam  by  the 
miraculous  power  of  God.  And  these  are  given  here, 
not  simply  as  so  many  facts,  but  they  are  inwrought 
into  the  whole  subsequent  scheme  of  redemption,  and 
you  cannot  take  them  out.  When  I  read  the  Bible  I 
confess  I  am  never  absolutely  convinced  by  one  text.    It 


THE  ORIGINAL  STATE  OF  MAN.  171 

is  a  habit  of  the  mind  perhaps,  because  the  thought  will 
arise,  How  do  you  know  that  text  is  sure?  How  do  you 
know  there  is  no  error  in  the  transcript  ?  How  do  you 
know  there  is  not  some  error  in  the  interpretation  ?  I 
do  not  believe  God  ever  meant  us  to  believe  in  a  great 
doctrine  upon  a  single  text.  But  when  the  truth  is  in- 
terwoven and  associated,  as  it  is  here,  in  the  historical 
book  as  a  condition  of  the  history ;  when  it  is  taken  up 
and  interwoven  in  the  whole  scheme  of  redemption,  and 
afterward  is  the  very  basis  of  God's  treatment  of  man 
under  all  conditions,  under  the  covenant  of  works  and 
man's  apostasy,  and  the  covenant  of  grace  and  its  execu- 
tion and  application, — why,  I  say,  you  cannot  touch  this 
truth  without  destroying  the  whole  scheme  of  redemp- 
tion; aud  it  is  just  because  it  has  been  interwoven  into 
the  whole  scheme. 

You  have  heard  a  great  deal  in  recent  times  about  the 
application  or  the  so-called  application  of  the  scientific 
doctrine  of  Evolution  to  the  question  of  the  origin  of 
man.  This  word  "  evolution,"  as  used  in  the  language 
of  philosophers  and  scientists,  does  not  mean  necessarily 
to  indicate  always  an  opinion,  but  a  certain  tendency  of 
thought,  a  way  of  looking  at  certain  phenomena.  But 
the  word  evolution  has  come  to  stay  among  us,  no  matter 
what  we  intend  to  do  with  it.  It  does  represent  a  certain 
mode  of  thinking,  which  unquestionably  you  yourselves 
hold,  and  which  men  have  always  held  more  or  less,  and 
which  is  true.  Now,  the  fundamental  idea  in  the  gen- 
eral experience  of  men  in  the  present  and  past  is  just 
this :  that  the  things  which  are  have  been  produced  by 
the  things  which  were,  and  the  things  that  are,  are  pro- 
ducing things  that  will  be,  and  that  this  proceeds  in  lines 


172  THE  ORIGINAL  STATE  OF  MAX. 

of  absolutely  unbroken  continuity  and  by  stages  almost 
imperceptible. 

This  is  so,  is  it  not  ?  Remember,  I  am  not  advocating 
evolution,  but  I  show  to  you  what  I  believe :  I  want  to 
put  you  in  possession  of  the  facts.  The  truth  is  just 
this :  look  around  you ;  see  the  growing  of  the  chicken 
out  of  the  egg,  the  growing  of  the  tree  out  of  the  acorn, 
the  progress  of  the  foetus  from  the  germ,  the  babe  from 
the  foetus,  the  child  from  the  babe,  and  the  man  from 
the  child;  the  progress  of  the  nation  from  the  tribe,  the 
progress  of  the  tribe  from  the  family,  and  the  gradual 
movement  everywhere,  just  as  I  have  shown  you  in  the 
Bible,  through  successive  stages.  Why  the  first  book  in 
the  Bible  is  called  Genesis.  The  Greek  translation  that 
gives  us  that  title  calls  the  work  of  creation  "  the  gene- 
sis of  the  heavens  and  of  the  earth  " — i.  e.  the  gradual 
procedure  along  the  lines  of  unbroken  continuity  and  by 
changes  of  almost  imperceptible  degree,  and  this  whole 
cosmos  coming  to  be  what  it  is  from  the  original  elements 
which  God  created  by  the  word  of  his  power. 

And  when  you  go  out  into  the  universe  you  see  these 
things.  You  look  up  and  you  see,  for  instance,  the  sun 
growing  old,  and  certainly  growing  colder.  And  you 
see  the  light  coming  from  Jupiter;  Jupiter  is  nothing 
more  than  an  old  sun.  And  the  earth,  growing  older 
and  colder,  is  nothing  but  an  old  Jupiter ;  and  the  moon, 
grown  colder  through  successive  ages,  is  nothing  but  an 
old  earth.  The  moon  an  old  earth,  the  earth  an  old  Ju- 
piter, and  Jupiter  an  old  sun,  and  these  by  imperceptible 
degrees.  The  earth  has  been  growing  colder  through 
time  which  can  be  historically  traced.  The  fauna  and 
flora  of  every  zone  have  been  gradually  changing,  and 


THE  ORIGINAL  STATE  OF  MAN.  173 

continually  adjusting  themselves  to  constantly  changing 
physical  conditions,  and  that  in  absolutely  unbroken  con- 
tinuity and  by  transitions  almost  imperceptible.  The 
same  thing  has  been  going  on  in  the  human  race.  God 
created  it ;  God  made  man,  one  man,  and  one  woman  out 
of  the  man,  one  simple  family,  like  any  other  family  ; 
with  this  qualification,  that  they  were  made  by  an  un- 
broken progress  and  by  slight  imperceptible  changes, 
under  the  influence  of  climate  and  social  and  moral 
changes,  into  a  human  race  which  through  ages  has  been 
differentiated  into  all  the  varieties  of  all  the  families, 
tribes  and  nations  that  exist  upon  the  face  of  the  earth. 
The  word  "  evolution  "  applies  to  this  phenomenon. 

I  am  going  to  ask  you  this  afternoon  to  make  the  dis- 
tinction between  evolution  as  a  working  hypothesis  of 
science  and  evolution  as  a  philosophy. 

What  is  science  ?  Science  is  something  which  is  very 
sure,  but  very  narrow.  Science  has  to  deal  simply  with 
facts,  phenomena — things  to  be  seen  and  heard,  etc. — and 
with  their  qualities,  their  likeness,  or  unlikeness,  whether 
they  have  a  common  existence,  coexist  or  have  a  succes- 
sion. That  is  the  whole  of  it.  The  reason  science  speaks 
with  such  authority  is  this :  science  is  verifiable,  and  what 
is  verified  you  must  believe:  you  cannot  get  around 
facts.  Science  is  verifiable,  and  therefore  has  authority ; 
but  it  is  very  narrow.  Now,  there  are  a  great  many 
things  you  may  call  science  which  have  not  any  science 
in  them.  Remember,  therefore,  that  science  is  to  be 
confined  to  phenomena,  their  likeness  and  unlikeness, 
their  coexistence  or  succession ;  and  that  science  has 
nothing  whatever  to  do  with  causes,  has  nothing  what- 
ever to  do  with  ends  or  objects.     Science  is  authoritative 


174  THE  ORIGINAL  STATE  OF  MAN. 

within  its  sphere,  because  it  can  determine  qualitatively 
what  a  thing  is  and  quantitatively  how  much  a  thing  is, 
and  such  results  can  be  expressed  in  numbers.  In  this 
way  science  has  gained  its  wide  dissemination  and  its 
great  authority.  I  feel  I  have  a  right  to  say  what  I 
shall  say  now,  because  I  have  been  associated  with  a 
good  many  men  of  science  who  were  also  devout  Chris- 
tians. This  doctrine  of  evolution,  when  it  is  confined 
to  science  as  a  working  hypothesis,  you  may  let  alone, 
Christian  friends,  all  of  you.  You  need  not  be  afraid 
of  it.  It  cannot  affect  any  of  the  questions  of  religion ; 
it  cannot  affect  any  questions  of  revelation;  it  cannot 
lead  you  wrong ;  it  must  in  the  end  go  right.  It  has  a 
narrow  track  on  grooves,  but  truth  is  eternal  and  must 
prevail ;  a  lie  cannot  prevail. 

On  the  other  hand,  what  you  have  been  accustomed  to 
call  evolution  is  not  a  science.  Now,  when  Tyndall  and 
Huxley  go  to  a  great  scientific  meeting  they  talk  science, 
they  confine  themselves  to  science.  When  they  write 
books  for  the  public  and  to  circulate  about,  they  give 
themselves  to  speculation,  and  it  is  this  doctrine  of  evo- 
lution run  wild  which  is  the  evolution  of  the  day,  the 
general  talk  of  the  people.  You  hear  it  talked  about  in 
the  newspapers  and  find  it  discussed  in  all  circles.  It  is 
only  a  philosophy.  Philosophy  is  different  from  science. 
Science  is  applied  to  facts,  philosophy  has  to  do  with 
causes.  Now,  I  say,  do  not  fear  evolution  in  the  depart- 
ment of  science,  but  do  fear  and  oppose  evolution  with 
all  your  might  when  it  is  given  to  you  as  a  philosophy. 
As  a  philosophy  it  explains  everything  with  one  solvent ; 
with  one  theory  it  would  explain  universal  being. 

These  men  begin,  for  instance,  with  a  postulate,  the  sim- 


THE  ORIGINAL  STATE  OF  MAN.  175 

pie  inorganic  atom.  Then  by  this  postulate,  which  they 
know  nothing  about,  and  which  science  knows  nothing 
about,  they  postulate  that  the  living  is  evolved  from  the 
non-living.  From  that  they  infer  the  doctrine  of  spon- 
taneous generation ;  an  inference,  an  hypothesis.  Then 
this  living  thing  is  found  to  possess  the  property  of  he- 
redity, the  power  of  transmission,  the  power  of  variation, 
and  so  by  constant  transmission  and  constant  variation 
it  is  held  that  from  the  original  germ  proceeded  other 
germs,  continually  varying  under  the  influence  of  habit ; 
and  thus  they  hold  of  all  living  things  that  they  proceed 
from  this  original  atom,  self-generated  out  of  non-living 
matter. 

Now,  this  is  not  science,  no  matter  what  it  teaches.  It 
is  nothing  but  speculation,  and  as  a  speculation  it  ought 
to  be  separated  from  science.  Science  confines  itself  to 
facts.  This  speculation  in  regard  to  evolution  has  no 
more  authority  than  any  other  wild  speculation  that  ex- 
ists among  men ;  it  has  no  scientific  facts  to  begin  with. 
Science  will  tell  you  that  there  are  absolutely  no  facts 
with  regard  to  spontaneous  generation.  It  will  tell  you, 
at  the  same  time,  that  there  is  no  missing  link  between 
the  highest  known  order  of  creation  and  the  lowest. 
You  cannot,  therefore,  take  this  speculative  evolution  as 
a  fact ;  the  testimony  of  science  thus  far,  with  regard  to 
the  facts,  is  against  it.  It  is  a  vain,  vapid,  pretentious 
philosophy  of  evolution,  which  has  no  scientific  basis 
and  is  absolutely  devoid  of  any  scientific  authority.  You 
must  oppose  this,  first,  in  the  interest  of  the  convictions 
of  your  own  reason  and  of  the  fundamental  principles 
of  human  thought  and  intuitions ;  secondly,  in  the  inter- 
est of  natural  religion  ;  thirdly,  in  the  interest  of  revealed 


176  THE  ORIGINAL  STATE  OF  MAN. 

religion.   It  is  to  me  intuitively  certain  that  a  thing  can- 
not be  evolved  out  of  that  which  does  not  contain  it.    It 
is  certain  the  chicken  must  be  potentially  in  the  egg  be- 
fore it  can  be  hatched  out  of  it,  that  the  oak  must  be 
potentially  in  the  acorn  before  it  can  be  germinated  out 
of  it.     You  must  have  the  thing  that  is  to  live  in  the 
seed  or  the  o-erm.     It  would  be  a  contradiction  to  the 
first  principles  of  reason,  an  impossibility,  to  conceive  of 
the  living  coming  from  the  non-living  (if  it  does  come, 
God  must  be  living  in  it),  or  of  the  conscious  coming 
from  the  unconscious  (if  it  does,  God  must  be  conscious 
in  it),  or  of  reason  coming  from  the  irrational  (if  it  does, 
God  must  be  the  reason  in  it),  or  of  the  moral  coming 
from  that  which  is  destitute  of  morality  (if  it  does  so 
come,  it  must  have  a  moral  sense  in  it).   If  it  were  found 
to  be  true  that  successive  species  have  been  produced  by 
generation  from  existing  species— if  it  could  be  proved, 
as  it  cannot  be— it  would  follow  that  it  was  not  the  nat- 
ural process,  but  there  must  have  been  a  series  of  def- 
inite divine  interventions  all  along  the  line.     First,  you 
would  have  life,  then  consciousness,  then  reason,  then 
will,  and  last  the  conscience ;  and  thus  you  will  deter- 
mine  that   God   has   at   last  "made  man  in  his  own 


image  " 


I  am  as  sure  as  I  am  of  my  existence  that  there  is 
nothing  in  the  discoveries  of  science  which  can  give 
Christians  any  ground  for  fear  as  to  the  utter  integrity 
and  truth  of  the  declarations  of  God  in  the  first  chapter 
of  Genesis.  Now,  what  do  the  learned  men  of  science 
say  about  this  ? 

(1.)  First,  as  to  the  antiquity  of  man.  Undoubtedly, 
human  remains  have  been  discovered  under  conditions  in 


THE  ORIGINAL  STATE  OF  MAN.  Ill 

which  it  is  impossible  to  believe  that  God  created  man 
only  six  thousand  years  ago.  I  have  no  doubt  of  that. 
I  have  no  doubt  you  will  have  to  extend  the  time  of 
creation  back  farther  than  six  thousand  years.  But  re- 
member that  God  never  said  he  created  Adam  six  thou- 
sand years  ago.  Our  chronology  exists  in  two  forms, 
that  of  Usher  and  that  of  Hales,  and  it  differs  by  a 
thousand  years.  Two  scholars  taking  up  this  chronology 
have  made  the  difference  simply  by  following  out  the 
genealogical  tables. 

I  am  sure  that  you  will  think  with  me  that  my  col- 
league, Dr.  Green  of  Princeton,  as  an  interpreter  of  the 
Old  Testament  is  conservative  and  as  much  to  be  relied 
upon  in  the  interest  of  historic  truth  as  any  man  living. 
I  can  remember  when  his  book  on  the  Pentateuch  ap- 
peared. In  a  note  with  regard  to  two  passages  as  to  the 
time  the  Bible  gives  in  certain  utterances  he  said,  "  The 
time  between  the  creation  of  Adam  and  ourselves  might 
have  been,  for  all  we  know  from  the  Bible  to  the  con- 
trary, much  longer  than  it  seems."  I  was  in  Princeton, 
in  my  father's  study  :  I  was  living  then  in  Allegheny. 
I  can  well  remember  my  father  walking  up  and  down, 
and  saying,  "  What  a  relief  it  is  to  me  that  he  should 
have  said  that !"  Professor  Guyot  lived  in  Princeton 
then — a  man  of  great  genius,  as  highly  educated  a  man 
of  science  as  I  ever  saw.  He  was  for  many  years  pro- 
fessor of  history  in  the  University  of  Lausanne,  before 
he  gave  himself  up  to  material  science.  He  was  one  of 
the  most  devout  Christians  who  ever  kindled  the  flame 
of  holy  love  from  the  light  of  nature  and  revelation  ;  he 
was  absolutely  a  believer  in  the  Bible  as  it  stood  in  every 
way.     He  went  to  Europe  about  twelve  years  ago,  and 

12 


178  THE  ORIGINAL  STATE  OF  MAN. 

when  he  came  back,  after  visiting  the  great  museums,  he 
said,  "  I  was  surprised  at  the  amount  of  evidence  I  saw 
there  of  the  antiquity  of  man  j  still,  I  think  that  thir- 
teen thousand  years  instead  of  six  thousand  would  cover 
it."  Now,  what  difference  does  it  make?  Do  you  not 
know  if  you  take  history  at  all,  with  its  chronology 
merely,  that  it  is  the  most  indifferent  and  utterly  insig- 
nificant of  all  revelations  ?  The  only  questions  which 
can  be  of  importance  are,  Did  a  thing  occur  first  or  last, 
before  or  after  ?  Then  of  course  it  affects  the  question 
of  cause  and  effect,  and  it  becomes  a  question  of  great 
importance.  Chronology  in  history  is  what  perspect- 
ive is  in  a  great  painting.  When  you  stand  before  a 
great  historical  picture,  a  great  painting — a  battle-piece, 
for  instance — you  have  the  forefront  of  the  picture  pre- 
sented to  you  in  proportion,  and  you  measure  everything 
by  the  stature  of  men  as  they  stand  there,  and  so  you 
form  your  judgment,  as  everything  is  in  proportion ;  but 
when  you  cast  your  eye  into  the  background — the  great 
background  with  life  behind  it— it  makes  little  difference 
to  you  whether  it  is  one  mile  or  two  miles,  ten  or  twenty 
miles.  Now,  the  Bible  was  written  not  for  the  sake  of 
satisfying  curiosity,  not  for  the  sake  of  addressing  the 
intellects  of  men,  but  it  was  written  for  the  purpose  of 
giving  us  a  history  of  redemption. 

The  first  thing  we  see  in  the  history  of  redemption 
begins  with  Abraham,  and  if  you  will  look  back  of  that 
time  and  see  what  the  Bible  says,  it  is  merely  the  putting 
of  chronological  events  into  position.  But  begin  with 
the  birth  of  Abraham :  after  that  we  have  biography, 
we  have  appointed  times,  we  have  history— a  history 
that  goes  back  only  to  the  birth  of  Abraham.     All  be- 


THE  ORIGINAL  STATE  OF  MAN.  179 

fore  that  is  the  simple  introduction  crowded  into  some 
ten  or  twelve  chapters,  designed  to  teach  us  these  tre- 
mendous facts  :  first,  creation  ;  second,  the  fall ;  thirdly, 
the  general  dealing  of  God  with  men  in  preparation  for 
redemption  to  come ;  but  these  great  facts  are  dropped 
in  by  the  great  artist  of  revelation  as  an  introduction 
merely  to  the  history  beginning  with  Abraham.  Every- 
thing back  of  this  is  piled  up  like  the  background  in 
front  of  which  the  history  stands.  I  say  neither  you 
nor  I  have  any  reason  to  know  how  long  it  is  since  Adam 
was  created.  There  is  no  reason  to  believe  it  was  more 
than  fifteen  or  sixteen  thousand  years ;  but  whether  more 
or  less,  revelation  has  not  informed  us. 

(2.)  The  second  question  is,  What  has  science  found 
to  be  the  original  condition  of  man? 

It  is  found  by  the  testimony  of  men  of  science  that 
wherever  man  is  found  he  is  a  perfect  man.  The  most 
ancient  and  primitive  of  skulls  and  of  skeletons  indicate 
intelligence  equal  to  any  of  the  present  barbarous  races 
now  existing  upon  the  face  of  the  earth.  The  whole 
testimony  of  history  is  therefore  not  that  we  were  devel- 
oped out  of  animals,  but  that  when  we  began  to  exist  it 
was  in  the  fullness  of  our  organization,  in  the  fullness 
of  our  powers.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  true  that  these 
skeletons  indicate  that  men  lived,  as  far  as  they  have 
been  discovered,  in  a  savage  condition.  Now,  the  reason 
Guyot  gave  was  to  me  perfectly  satisfactory :  he  wished 
me  to  think  that  God  created  Adam  in  his  full  capacity 
as  a  man,  but  not  with  habits  matured  and  formed. 
Adam  was  created  with  faculties  and  powers  very  much 
in  the  state  of  a  child,  capable  of  development  in  the 
right  direction,  but  without  education.     Adam  was  on 


180  THE  ORIGINAL  STATE  OF  MAN. 

trial  of  faith,  and  as  soon  as  he  fell  his  family  are  intro- 
duced in  the  narrative.  Cain  sinned  and  his  family  are 
abandoned;  but  the  children  of  Seth  were  elected  to  sal- 
vation, and  God  introduced  the  covenant  system  into  the 
family.  Now,  said  Guyot,  when  you  go  out  into  the 
world  and  find  in  one  of  the  old  caves  the  fossil  remains 
of  primitive  men,  you  will  find,  of  course,  barbarians  ; 
not  because  the  children  of  Adam  were  created  barbarians, 
but  the  children  of  Cain  necessarily  became  barbarians 
because  they  had  sinned  and  were  abandoned  of  God ; 
but  the  children  of  Seth,— you  have  their  history  in  the 
Bible.  The  Bible  is  true,  and  it  is  given  to  be  a  simple 
history  of  the  race.  Therefore,  as  far  as  it  alludes  to 
primitive  races  it  alludes  to  the  history  of  those  races 
who  were  subjects  of  redemption,  who  were  the  covenant 
people  of  God. 

Now,  what  does  the  Bible  teach  as  to  the  primitive 
condition?  (1)  First,  the  Bible  teaches  that  Adam  was 
brought  into  existence,  not  gradually,  but  suddenly  and 
in  a  state  of  maturity.  It  is  a  very  curious  thing  for 
you  to  consider :  I  never  can  understand  it  thoroughly, 
and  it  is  because  we  have  had  no  experience  in  it.  You 
and  I  wake  up  men  and  women  every  morning — mature 
men  and  women.  We  wake  up  with  a  history — a  his- 
tory in  which  we  can  go  back  to  years  and  years  upon 
years  with  the  assistance  of  the  story  of  the  generations 
which  has  come  down  to  us.  Then  we  came  into  exist- 
ence as  germs,  we  grew  on  our  mother's  breast  until  we 
became  conscious,  and  then  from  early  infancy  we  have 
been  building  up  habits  continuously.  When  Adam 
first  waked  he  had  no  conscious  destiny,  for  he  had  no 
history,  he  had  no  inheritance.     You  and  I  come  into 


THE  ORIGINAL  STATE  OF  MAN.  181 

existence  every  morning,  not  only  as  men  and  women, 
but  as  Caucasians,  and  not  only  as  Caucasians,  but  as 
Americans;  not  only  as  Americans,  but  as  Philadel- 
phiaus ;  and  not  only  as  Philadelphians,  but  as  Smith  or 
Jones, — and  we  have  all  the  characteristics  inherited  from 
Adam.  But  when  Adam  waked  he  had  no  history,  he 
had  nothing  behind  him  ;  he  was  just  Adam,  and  he  had 
no  yesterday. 

A  case  occurred  which  is  nearly  analogous  to  this. 
There  was  a  young  lady  in  Western  Pennsylvania.  I 
knew  her  nephew.  The  history  of  the  case  has  been 
written  by  Dr.  Plumer,  and  was  published  in  1855  or 
1856  in  Harper's  Monthly  Magazine  with  great  fullness 
and  certainty,  and  I  know  it  to  be  true.  This  lady  when 
she  got  to  be  twenty  years  of  age,  while  away  from  home, 
waked  up  one  morning  with  her  mind  absolutely  discon- 
nected with  the  past ;  she  absolutely  remembered  nothing 
— did  not  know  her  father  or  mother.  Undoubtedly 
there  were  retained  by  her  in  her  natural  consciousness 
certain  habits  which  she  had  formed.  She  did  not  wake 
up  a  babe,  she  waked  up  a  woman ;  but  she  knew  abso- 
lutely nothing ;  she  had  to  learn  the  language  again  ;  she 
had  to  learn  the  names  of  things ;  she  had  to  learn  words; 
she  had  to  begin  again  at  the  beginning  of  knowledge. 
Now,  when  she  woke  up  on  that  day  she  was  like  Adam 
in  this :  that  she  had  no  yesterday ;  she  knew  nothing ; 
everything  was  fresh  to  her,  just  as  it  was  to  him.  Yet, 
do  you  not  see,  he  did  not  wake  up  to  the  consciousness 
of  a  babe ;  he  waked  up  as  a  man,  he  came  to  conscious- 
ness as  a  man,  and  as  a  man  of  maturity.  It  seems  to 
me  unquestionable  that  God  must  have  communicated 
something  to  him,  communicated  some   knowledge  for 


182  THE  ORIGINAL  STATE  OF  MAN. 

him  to  work  ou.  I  cannot  conceive  of  anything  else. 
It  would  be  like  a  grist-mill  without  grist.  You  could 
not  run  a  grist-mill  without  grist  in  it.  I  cannot  con- 
ceive of  Adam's  mind  running  without  something;  in  it. 
Adam  waked  up,  and  he  began  to  speak  to  God.  He 
had  ideas  about  some  things,  just  as  I  suppose  this  lady 
had.  If  Adam  knew  anything,  God  must  have  taught 
him ;  he  could  not  have  invented  things  himself;  he 
could  not  have  said,  "This  is  so."  If  I  understand  it 
right,  what  knowledge  he  had  God  gave  him.  Then  he 
gave  to  man  a  perfect  body ;  he  had  a  heart  and  a  mind ; 
he  could  talk  and  he  could  breathe.  I  do  not  know  that 
he  had  higher  qualities  of  a  human  body ;  I  do  not  care. 
I  do  know  that  God  gave  Adam  a  good  trial,  and  if  he 
had  not  sinned  he  would  not  have  died  ;  and  that  is  all 
the  Bible  says,  and  that  is  all  that  you  and  I  have  a 
right  to  make  out  of  it. 

(2)  The  second  fact  is,  the  Bible  says  God  made  Adam 
in  his  own  image.  Now  the  word  "  image  "  here  means 
two  things,  which  you  can  easily  see.  There  is  a  good 
deal  taught  in  that  saying,  "  Let  us  make  man  in  our 
own  image."  There  is  a  constitutional  image  of  God, 
and  there  is  a  moral  or  accidental  image.  Now,  when 
God  made  man  in  his  own  image,  he  made  the  spirit  ra- 
tional and  moral,  and  he  made  it  capable  of  free  will ;  in 
doing  so  God  made  man  in  his  own  image.  That  image  of 
God  was  not  lost.  Why,  the  sinner  is  in  the  image  of  God. 
The  devil  is  in  the  image  of  God,  because  he  is  an  intel- 
ligent spirit.  Sometimes  there  are  certain  sinners  who 
are  in  this  respect  more  in  the  image  of  God  than  certain 
saints ;  that  is,  there  is  more  of  them — more  will,  more 
strength,  and  in  that  respect  they  are  more  like  God. 


THE  ORIGINAL  STATE  OF  MAN.  183 

This  constitutional  image  of  God  never  was  lost  and 
never  will  be  lost.  But  besides  this,  God  created  Adam 
in  the  moral  image  of  God;  that  is,  "in  knowledge, 
righteousness  and  true  holiness ;"  so  that  the  new-cre- 
ated man  was  in  the  image  of  God.  And  when  we  take 
on  the  new  man  in  Christ  Jesus  we  take  on  his  image, 
as  in  the  creation;  that  is,  by  regeneration.  It  was  the 
moral  image  of  God  which  was  implanted  in  the  will 
which  made  Adam  holy  and  good.  The  last  point  is  his 
"dominion  over  all  creatures."  Now,  this  dominion 
over  God's  creatures  is  founded  on  two  grounds  :  First, 
because  of  the  constitutionality  of  it ;  even  bad  men  can 
govern  on  the  earth.  But  it  is  founded  on  the  higher 
spiritual  likeness  to  God,  of  which  we  have  spoken,  real 
although  differentiated  from  the  Creator,  and  which  will 
never  be  completely  developed  until  man  adds  to  his  con- 
stitutional likeness  the  original  spiritual  moral  image  of 
God  which  he  has  lost ;  not  until  man  becomes  not  only 
rational,  but  holy,  can  he  regain  this  image. 

I  now  wish  to  occupy  your  attention  for  a  very  short 
time  in  talking  about  free-will.  It  is  a  question  of  great 
interest.  I  do  not  assert,  nor  is  it  necessary  that  I  should, 
what  are  the  essential  elements  of  free  agency.  Men 
may  differ  about  that ;  but  we  know  we  have  a  con- 
science, and  that  a  person  is  not  a  mere  machine ;  for 
that  a  machine  cannot  have  an  obligation,  cannot  be 
subject  to  command,  is  certainly  proved ;  but  that  a 
person  is  subject  to  command,  is  subject  to  obligations 
of  conscience,  is  a  matter  of  universal  consciousness. 
This  is  very  true,  more  so  than  any  fact  of  science. 
The  most  certain  things  in  the  world  are  not  the  things 
you  can  prove.      You  say,  "I  have  proved   this,  and 


184  THE  ORIGINAL  STATE  OF  MAN. 

therefore  I  believe  it  to  be  true."  The  fact  that  you 
have  got  to  prove  things  shows  that  there  is  doubt,  for  it 
is  only  doubtful  things  you  have  to  prove.  The  things 
which  you  cannot  prove  are  the  eternal  verities. 

How  do  you  prove  things  ?  You  prove  things  by  de- 
ducing the  unknown  from  the  known,  the  uncertain  from 
the  certain,  by  referring  particulars  to  general  laws.  That 
is,  you  prove  through  a  medium,  but  how  do  you  prove 
the  medium?  Now,  logic  is  a  great  thing.  How  does 
logic  work  ?  Of  course,  step  by  step.  You  know  that 
in  logic  you  cannot  separate  the  links ;  if  you  get  hold 
of  one  end  of  the  chain,  you  keep  following  it  up.  But 
what  is  the  force  of  the  chain  ?  You  have  got  a  chain 
of  logic  hanging  down,  and  you  climb  up  that  chain  link 
by  link  ;  but  what  supports  the  chain  at  the  other  end  ? 
Logic  is  like  a  ladder ;  by  means  of  it  you  go  up  step  by 
step.  But  how  are  you  going  to  prove  that  the  bottom 
of  it  is  all  right  ?  The  ladder  rests  on  the  ground,  but 
what  supports  the  ground  ?  You  prove  this  by  that ; 
but  what  proves  thatf  You  must  have  a  starting-point, 
an  ultimate  fact,  and  these  ultimate  principles  are  the 
most  sure,  because  if  the  ground  is  not  steady  the  ladder 
is  not  steady ;  the  ground  must  be  more  steady  than  the 
ladder.  The  things  which  you  start  from,  which  are  the 
means  of  bringing  us  results,  are  more  sure  than  other 
things  which  are  proved  by  them.  You  and  I  know 
that  we  are  free.  You  and  I  know  that  we  are  respon- 
sible. You  and  I  have  that  assurance  of  knowledge, 
which  is  before  all  science. 

This  matter  of  free-will  underlies  everything.  If  you 
bring  it  to  question,  it  is  infinitely  more  than  Calvinism. 
I  believe  in  Calvinism,  and  I  say  free-will  stands  before 


THE  ORIGINAL  STATE  OF  MAN.  185 

Calvinism.  Everything  is  gone  if  free-will  is  gone ;  the 
moral  system  is  gone  if  free-will  is  gone ;  you  cannot  es- 
cape, except  by  Materialism  on  the  one  hand  or  Panthe- 
ism on  the  other.  Hold  hard,  therefore,  to  the  doctrine 
of  free-will.  What  is  it  ?  I  say  to  my  class,  but  I  do 
not  know  whether  it  will  do  to  say  it  here,  "  I  have  my 
will,  but  my  will  is  not  free ;  it  is  myself  that  is  free." 
Now  it  makes  a  difference  whether  you  have  freedom  of 
will  or  the  freedom  of  man  in  williug.  I  am  conscious 
that  my  will  is  free.  But  am  I  free  when  I  will  ?  That 
is  what  I  mean  to  indicate.  Consciousness  tells  me  that 
I  am  free,  therefore  I  am  responsible.  Then  I  have  this 
freedom  ;  it  is  not  an  abstract  quality,  it  is  not  an  abstract 
faculty — it  has  a  whole  meaning.  It  is  the  J  that  is  free ; 
the  reason  is  free,  as  free  as  the  consciousness.  It  is  the 
/  that  is  free  and  has  got  a  will ;  it  is  the  I  that  is  free 
and  has  got  a  character. 

Now,  so  understand iug  this  freedom  of  the  7,  not  of 
the  will,  but  of  the  whole  soul,  what  is  freedom  ?  I  say 
it  is  just  this,  as  far  as  I  know  anything  about  it,  that  it 
is  just  the  self-originating,  self-directing  i,  and  that  is 
the  whole  that  it  is.  Let  me  illustrate.  Suppose  I 
should  put  upon  your  table,  or  you  should  see  resting 
there,  with  nothing  to  interfere  with  it,  a  ball  of  some- 
thing. It  is  a  ball  of  yarn.  Now  suppose  you  begin  to 
see  the  yarn  moving ;  you  would  be  sure  to  say,  "  Some 
one  is  moving  it."  It  is  yarn  ;  nothing  is  more  certain 
than  that  the  thing  cannot  move  itself;  if  it  moves,  it 
moves  by  reason  of  some  life  connected  with  it,  and  you 
settle  that  question  right  off.  You  look  again  and  you 
say,  "  It  is  not  a  ball  of  yarn ;  it  is  a  mouse."  The 
thing  started  itself ;  it  could  not  move  unless  it  had  life 


186  THE  ORIGINAL  STATE  OF  MAN. 

from  within  ;  that  is  self-originating  motion.  Now,  has 
the  mouse  free-will?  No,  because  the  mouse  has  not 
reason  and  conscience ;  therefore  I  would  amend  my 
definition.  The  mouse  has  self-originated  action ;  the 
mouse  has  self-electing  action,  but  it  has  not  reason  and 
conscience.  I  say  it  is  self-originated,  self-elected  action, 
with  the  illumination  of  reason  and  conscience,  that 
makes  free-will. 

You  are  sitting  in  a  summer  house,  you  see  something 
darting  about.  What  is  it  ?  It  is  nothing  but  a  speck 
of  dust.  That  is  not  self-directed  action ;  it  is  governed 
by  the  wind.  Suppose  that  you  look  and  see  that  it 
is  motion  directed  from  within,  that  this  darting  and 
stopping  is  self-moved.  Why,  that  is  not  governed  by 
the  wind ;  it  is  governed  by  instinct,  which  is  not  reason 
or  conscience.  Suppose  that  you  or  I  at  sea  should  ob- 
serve a  great  ship  at  a  distance  just  carried  about;  we 
look  at  it ;  we  take  our  glasses ;  and  you  say,  "  It  has 
no  life  about  it ;"  it  is  moved  by  the  current ;  and  you 
say  that  it  is  an  abandoned  thing  that  is  carried  about 
and  swept  along  by  controlling  circumstances  and  outside 
causes.  But  instead  of  this  object  floating  about,  sup- 
pose we  see  a  steamship ;  the  steam  is  on,  the  wheels  are 
revolving,  the  action  that  you  see  is  controlled  from 
within ;  and  you  have  there  self-originated  action ;  the 
action  comes  from  within  the  ship.  A  gale  is  blowing, 
and  the  waves  are  dashing  against  the  vessel ;  but  you 
see  the  royal  mail  steamship  fully  manned  and  equipped ; 
the  forces  are  all  at  work,  and  there  is  a  man  at  the 
helm ;  and  there  you  have  free-will  iu  its  highest  form, 
self-originated  force,  self-directed  force,  under  the  lead  of 
reason  and  conscience ;  that  I  believe  to  be  free-will. 


THE  ORIGINAL  STATE  OF  MAN.  187 

Now,  the  second  question  is  the  influence  of  character 
on  the  will.  A  great  many  seem  to  think  free-will  a 
simple  matter.  I  believe  it  is  the  greatest  mystery  of 
the  world.  Man  has  a  fixed  character  which  determines 
all  in  a  certain  track,  and  yet  that  man  is  free ;  whereas, 
you  say  a  man  to  be  free  ought  to  be  perfectly  uninflu- 
enced. Suppose  I  bring  up  before  you  to-day  in  illus- 
tration a  child.  It  has  no  past,  no  history ;  it  can  do 
what  it  pleases  of  course ;  and  if  I  say  to  it,  "  Will  you 
do  this?"  it  replies,  "I  will."  The  child  does  just  what 
any  one  wishes  it  to  do.  Now,  take  a  man  of  education 
and  of  character,  a  man  of  principle,  a  man  of  convic- 
tions, a  man  of  purpose,  a  man  of  fixed  habits,  and  you 
cannot  make  him  do  this  or  that.  What  he  does  is  al- 
ready determined  by  the  character  of  the  man,  habits 
which  have  been  crystallized  into  character.  The  child 
is  unformed :  he  can  do  anything ;  but  the  character  of 
the  man  is  fixed,  and  he  cannot  do  what  is  against  his 
conscience,  and  he  cannot  do  what  is  improper  in  his 
mind  or  view.  It  is  uncertain  what  the  child  will  do,  but 
it  is  very  certain  what  the  man  will  do.  Now,  I  ask  you, 
Which  is  the  more  free  ?  Is  it  the  child  or  the  man  ? 
Is  the  child  free,  or  is  the  father  free,  who  can  stand  up 
in  the  most  trying  times,  determined  from  within  by  the 
forces  of  his  character  and  by  the  good  habits  of  his  life? 
You  take  a  man ;  take  a  father  and  compare  him  with 
God  ;  concede  the  father  to  be  a  man  of  high  character, 
such  as  General  Grant,  and  sanctified  by  the  Spirit  of 
God,  firm  as  a  rock.  Yet,  after  all,  the  strongest  human 
being  may  be  tempted,  may  be  overcome  by  seduction. 
But  when  you  look  up  at  Jehovah,  whose  character  is 
not  uncertain,  whose  character  is  eternal,  who  cannot  do 


188  THE  ORIGINAL  STATE  OF  MAX. 

that  which  is  foolish,  and  who  cannot  do  that  which  is 
wrong ;  which  is  the  more  free  ?  Is  Jehovah  freer  than 
man  ?  Is  the  man  freer  than  the  child  ?  Therefore,  I 
hold  that  a  man  is  free  just  in  proportion  to  his  convic- 
tions, just  in  proportion  to  his  capability  of  determining 
his  action  from  experience,  just  from  his  fixedness  and 
crystallization  of  character.  A  man  is  free  in  proportion 
to  the  direction  and  development  of  his  character.  A 
holy  character  is  the  highest  form  of  freedom. 

I  believe  a  sinful  character  leaves  man  responsible,  for 
the  sinner  is  just  as  free  as  the  saint ;  the  devil  is  just  as 
free  as  Gabriel.  Now,  what  is  freedom?  It  is  self- 
originated,  self-directed  action  under  the  law  of  reason 
and  conscience.  But  the  devil  has  all  that,  just  as  much 
as  Gabriel.  The  sinful  man  has  all  that,  just  as  much 
as  the  saint.  The  difference  is  here.  I  have  the  power 
of  willing  as  I  prefer,  but  I  have  no  power  of  creating 
a  holy  character  for  myself.  If  I  have  a  holy  character, 
my  character  coincides  with  my  views,  my  judgment,  my 
reason,  my  conscience  and  my  spontaneous  affections ; 
they  all  go  in  one  direction ;  but  if  I  am  a  sinner  I  have 
no  right-directing  heart.  Reason  says  go  one  way,  con- 
science says  go  the  same  way,  the  affections  and  the  dis- 
positions say  go  another  way ;  and  therefore  the  sinner, 
according  to  the  language  of  the  Bible,  although  really 
free  and  morally  responsible,  is  in  bondage  to  corruption ; 
the  impulses  of  his  heart  are  in  the  wrong  direction. 

Apply  that  to  the  fourfold  state  of  man.  There  are 
only  four  states,  and  there  have  been  only  two  human 
beings  who  occupied  all  the  four  states — viz.  Adam  and 
Eve.  There  is  the  state  of  innocency,  the  state  of  sin, 
the  state  of  grace  and  the  state  of  glory. 


THE  ORIGINAL  STATE  OF  MAN.  189 

Now,  we  know  what  it  is  to  be  sinners.  Bat  can  we 
cease  to  be  sinners?  and  can  we  obey  the  law  of  holi- 
ness? We  know  what  it  is  to  be  Christians  through  di- 
vine grace.  How  was  it  with  Adam  ?  Adam  was  cre- 
ated, according  to  the  Bible,  with  a  perfectly  holy  nature, 
without  sin  ;  and  yet  he  was  able  to  sin,  and  he  was  able 
to  do  right.  You  have  not  had  that  experience.  No 
one  but  Adam  ever  had  that  experience  or  ever  can  have 
it. 

If  you  will  read  the  ninth  chapter  of  our  Confession 
of  Faith,  on  the  "  Freedom  of  the  Will,"  you  will  find 
it  one  of  the  most  wonderful  treatises  you  have  ever 
seen. 

You  are  familiar  with  the  fact  that  theologians  always 
escape  from  difficulties  by  using  the  word  "  mystery," 
and  that  the  mystery  of  mysteries  is  the  origin  of  sin. 
The  great  mystery  is  a  theological  one.  How  is  it  pos- 
sible that  a  God  of  infinite  holiness,  of  infinite  compas- 
sion, of  infinite  knowledge,  of  infinite  power,  ever  allows 
sin  to  exist?  Why,  sin  is  the  very  thing  he  hates.  This 
is  an  absolutely  insoluble  mystery.  How  did  sin  begin? 
Why  did  God  permit  it?  If  we  are  all  free,  if  we  are 
created  by  God,  and  there  is  nothing  which  exists  which 
God  did  not  create  except  himself,  how  did  sin  come? 
That  is  an  insoluble  mystery.  St.  Augustine  attenrpted 
to  account  for  it,  and  I  believe  his  suggestion  is  the  very 
nearest  to  it  possible.  It  is  that  sin  in  its  origin  is  not  a 
positive  entity,  but  it  is  a  defect. 

Take  this  for  an  illustration  :  Suppose  you  have  a  fid- 
dle that  has  been  out  of  tune ;  you  hang  it  up  on  the 
wall,  and  a  year  after  you  come  back  and  take  it  down, 
and  the  fiddle  is  all  in  tune.     You  know  that  the  fiddle 


190  THE  ORIGINAL  STATE  OF  MAN. 

must  have  been  put  in  tune ;  it  could  not  have  got  into 
tune  spontaneously.  But  suppose  your  fiddle  is  perfect- 
ly in  tune  when  you  hang  it  up,  and  you  go  away,  and 
when  you  return  you  find  that  it  is  out  of  tune.  It  does 
not  follow  that  somebody  did  it.  You  do  not  say  that 
somebody  did  it,  but  that  it  got  out  of  tune.  Now,  in 
the  case  of  Adam  I  have  no  doubt  sin  began  in  that 
way ;  not  as  sin ;  but  it  began  to  be  through  inattention, 
it  began  to  be  through  defect  in  love,  through  defect  in 
faith ;  it  was  an  omission,  and  it  was  thus  through  a  rift 
in  the  lute,  through  a  crack  here  and  another  there,  with 
a  want  of  harmony.  And  with  this  want  of  harmony 
came  the  awful  discord  that  has  sent  the  world  into  a 
bedlam  and  made  a  division  between  God  and  man. 
Adam  sinned,  and  then  we  got  into  the  condition  with 
which  we  are  familiar,  with  a  will  to  sin,  and  with  a 
power  only  to  sin ;  and  then,  through  the  cross,  we  are 
lifted  into  a  condition  of  grace,  in  which  we  have  power 
to  obey  ;  and  the  power  grows  stronger  and  stronger,  and 
the  disposition  and  desire  to  sin  grow  weaker  and  weak- 
er. That  is  before  us  ;  thank  God  we  shall  come  at  last 
to  the  stature  of  perfect  manhood  in  Christ  Jesus,  when 
the  character,  amplified  and  regenerated,  shall  come  to 
its  full,  divine  crystalline  beauty;  and  then  we  shall 
partake  of  the  divine  nature  and  have  a  perfect  freedom 
of  will,  as  free  as  Adam,  yet  certain  as  God. 


LECTURE  IX. 

GOHS  COVENANTS  WITH  MAN— THE  CHURCH. 

The  subject  to-day  is  a  wide  one ;  it  comprehends  the 
covenants  of  God,  his  covenant  of  works  and  covenant 
of  grace.  It  is  very  obvious  that  because  God  is  an  in- 
telligence he  must  have  a  plan.  If  he  be  an  absolutely 
perfect  intelligence,  desiring  and  designing  nothing  but 
good ;  if  he  be  an  eternal  and  immutable  intelligence, 
his  plan  must  be  one,  eternal,  all-comprehensive,  immu- 
table ;  that  is,  all  things  from  his  point  of  view  must 
constitute  one  system  and  sustain  a  perfect  logical  rela- 
tion in  all  its  parts.  Nevertheless,  like  all  other  compre- 
hensive systems,  it  must  itself  be  composed  of  an  infinite 
number  of  subordinate  systems.  In  this  respect  it  is 
like  these  heavens  which  he  has  made,  and  which  he  has 
hung  before  our  eyes  as  a  type  and  pattern  of  his  mode 
of  thinking  and  planning  in  all  providence.  We  know 
that  in  the  solar  system  our  earth  is  a  satellite  of  one  of 
the  great  snns,  and  of  this  particular  system  we  have  a 
knowledge  because  of  our  position,  but  we  know  that 
this  system  is  only  one  of  myriads,  with  variations,  that 
have  been  launched  in  the  great  abyss  of  space.  So  we 
know  that  this  great,  all-comprehensive  plan  of  God, 
considered  as  one  system,  must  contain  a  great  many 
subordinate  systems  which  might  be  studied  profitably  if 

191 


192  GOD'S  COVENANTS  WITH  MAN. 

we  were  in  the  position  to  do  so,  as  self-contained  wholes, 
separate  from  the  rest. 

Now,  the  great  system  of  human  redemption  must  in 
some  respects  stand  alone,  conspicuous  and  pre-eminent, 
above  all  other  plans  and  systems  of  God.  Even  though 
God  work  through  eternity,  even  though  he  work 
through  infinity,  God  has  but  one  Son.  The  incarna- 
tion of  the  Son  of  God  cannot  be  repeated.  This  is  an 
event  even  in  the  annals  of  eternity  and  in  the  annals  of 
the  universe  without  precedent,  without  parallel,  without 
equal.  And  this  incarnation  of  the  Son  of  God,  this 
taking  upon  himself  the  very  nature  of  man,  this  unit- 
ing himself  through  the  body  of  man  with  the  whole 
material  universe,  and  through  the  soul  of  man  with  the 
whole  moral  and  spiritual  universe,  must  in  its  very  na- 
ture have  wrought  a  change  affecting  universally  and  in- 
timately all  the  provinces  and  kingdoms,  and  all  the  in- 
dividuals which  it  embraces.  Besides  this,  a  system 
which  is  worthy  of  the  incarnation  and  the  death  of  the 
Son  of  God  must  be  something  transcendently  superior. 
I  do  believe  that  among  all  the  commonwealths  of  the 
sons  of  God — and  I  believe  these  are  infinite  in  number, 
in  extent  and  in  variety — this  commonwealth  of  redeemed 
humanity  must  occupy  a  central  and  interior  position ; 
that  it  is  something  unique,  unparalleled,  which  cannot 
even  in  the  universe  of  God  be  frequently  experienced 
by  any  of  his  creatures.  And  this  which  seems  to  us  to 
be  possible  and  probable  appears  to  be  absolutely  con- 
firmed by  the  apostle  Paul  in  his  Epistle  to  the  Ephe- 
sians,  when  he  says,  as  you  will  remember,  that  in  the 
fullness  of  time  this  great  undiscovered  secret,  which 
God  had  hitherto  kept  to  himself,  he  had  now  begun 


GOD'S  COVENANTS   WITH  MAN  193 

to  unveil  gradually  and  slowly  through  the  gospel ;  to 
wit,  his  purpose  to  make  men  "  accepted  through  the 
Beloved/'  his  purpose  to  bring  us  under  one  Head  in 
Christ,  and  to  consolidate  under  oue  Head  in  Christ  all 
things  which  are  in  heaven  or  upon  the  earth,  "  even  in 
him." 

Now,  this  plan  is  in  effect  a  covenant.    A  great  many, 
comparatively  recently,  have  come  to  doubt  whether  it  is 
proper  to  apply  terms  so  human  to  the  transactions  aud 
relations  of  God.    And  yet  I  do  believe  that  I  can  show 
to  you  that  the  very  facts  of  the  case  justify  this  lan- 
guage, and  that  they  implicitly  and  necessarily  contain 
all  these  principles.     The  term  "  covenant "  is  not  com- 
monly found  in  ancient  or  medieval  theology.     Hints 
of  it — that  is,  the  recognition  of  God's  plan  and  purpose — 
began  to  appear  in  the  century  preceding  the  Eeformation 
in  the  Koman  Catholic  Church,  and  then  among  the  first 
Reformers.     It  was  developed  very  distinctly  afterward 
by  one  of  the  authors  of  the  Heidelberg  Catechism. 
That  form  of  theology  itself  is  generally  attributed  to 
the  agency  of  Dutch  theologians,  who  introduced  it  about 
the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century.     But  it  is  found 
in  the  early  part  of  that  century  in  a  book  of  great  sim- 
plicity, called  The  Body  of  Divinity  (compiled  by  Arch- 
bishop Usher,  who  was  a  man  of  very  great  learning), 
which  I  believe  had  more  to  do  in  forming  the  Catechism 
and  Confession   of  Faith  than  any  other  book  in  the 
world ;  because  it  is  well  known  that,  although  Arch- 
bishop Usher  was  not  himself  present  in  the  Westmin- 
ster Assembly,  he  was  twice  invited  to  attend  aud  sit 
there,  and  that  this  book,  which  he  compiled  as  a  youno- 
man,  was  in  circulation  in  this  Assembly  among  the  in- 


194  GOD'S  COVENANTS   WITH  MAN. 

dividuals  composing  it.  And  if  this  is  true,  you  could 
easily  see  how  much  of  suggestion  there  is  in  it  which 
was  afterward  carried  into  the  Catechism — the  Larger 
Catechism  especially — of  that  Assembly. 

Now,  I  believe  that  some  foreign  divines,  and  some  in 
England,  carried  out  this  covenant  form  of  theology  in 
detail  in  a  manner  that  might  be  called  anthropomorphic. 
Yet  it  is  evident  that  if  God's  dealings  with  man  are 
ethical,  if  in  their  essential  nature  the  system  of  redemp- 
tion grew  out  of  the  relations  of  persons,  and  if  the 
process  consisted  in  the  way  of  teaching,  of  command- 
ments, of  promises,  of  threatenings,  of  the  presence  of 
motives  addressed  to  the  will  and  of  determinate  actions 
of  form  and  character,  then,  in  its  last  analysis,  all  the 
dealings  of  God  must  necessarily  come  back  to  this  form 
of  a  covenant.  What  is  the  essence  of  a  covenant  be- 
tween equals  except  a  mutual  understanding  and  the 
agreement  of  two  wills  ?  What  is  the  essential  nature 
of  a  covenant  formed  between  a  superior  and  inferior 
but  this — a  conditional  promise  ?  The  promise  is  a  re- 
ward on  the  condition  of  obedience,  associated  with 
threatening  of  punishment  on  the  condition  of  disobe- 
dience. It  follows  from  this,  necessarily,  that  if  you  be- 
gin with  an  eternity,  an  eternal  plan  of  God  must  be  a 
mutual  one  in  which  the  three  Persons  come  to  an  under- 
standing and  knowledge  of  that  common  purpose  in 
which  they  distribute  among  themselves  reciprocally 
their  several  functions.  Then  when  God  comes  to  deal 
with  any  intelligent  creature,  whether  it  be  an  angel  or 
man,  under  any  circumstances,  if  he  commands  or  prom- 
ises, or  if  he  threatens,  you  have  there  all  the  elements 
of  a  covenant,  because  a  covenant  is  simply  a  mutual  un- 


GOD'S  COVENANTS  WITH  MAN.  195 

derstanding,  and  the  covenant  imposed  by  a  superior 
upon  an  inferior  is  simply  a  conditional  promise.  Hence 
we  have  the  covenant  of  works,  the  covenant  of  redemp- 
tion and  the  covenant  of  grace. 

Now,  the  covenant  of  works  is  so  called  because  its 
condition  is  the  condition  of  works ;  it  is  called  also,  and 
just  as  legitimately,  the  covenant  of  life,  because  it  prom- 
ises life ;  it  is  called  a  legal  covenant,  because  it  proceeded, 
of  course,  upon  the  assumption  of  perfect  obedience,  con- 
formity in  character  and  action  to  the  perfect  law  of  God. 
And  it  is  no  less  a  covenant  of  grace,  because  it  was  a 
covenant  in  which  our  heavenly  Father,  as  a  guardian 
of  all  the  natural  rights  of  his  newly-created  creatures, 
sought  to  provide  for  this  race  in  his  infinite  wisdom  and 
love  and  infinite  grace  through  what  we  call  a  covenant 
of  works.  The  covenant  of  grace  is  just  as  much  and 
just  as  entire  a  covenant,  receiving  it  as  coming  from  an 
infinite  superior  to  an  inferior. 

Now  look  precisely  to  the  facts  in  the  case.  Let  there 
be  no  speculation,  let  there  be  no  inferences,  but  take  the 
facts  as  they  are.  In  the  first  place,  God  created  man, 
as  we  saw  in  our  last  lecture,  a  newly-awakened  being,  in- 
telligent, moral,  with  free-will,  with  a  natural  character 
through  which  he  was  able  to  do  right,  able  to  do  wrong, 
apparently.  In  the  second  place,  we  know  it  to  be  a 
universal  principle — and  as  it  is  of  God  it  seems  to  us  to 
be  a  very  just  principle — that  holy  character  is  made  to 
depend  upon  personal  choice.  But  it  does  not  seem  to 
me  that  this  is  always  and  absolutely  essential.  We 
know  that  the  immutable,  holy  character  of  God  did  not 
originate  in  personal  choice ;  that  God's  existence  is  eter- 
nal ;  his  existence  is  absolutely  necessary,  absolutely  ifn- 


196  GOB'S  COVENANTS    WITH  MAN. 

mutable,  and  that  God  is  from  eternity  and  essentially 
God,  rational,  holy  and  wise.  And  yet  it  does  seem  as 
if  God  had  determined  to  make  the  moral  character  of 
all  the  subjects  of  his  moral  government  to  depend  upon 
personal  choice,  and  it  seems  to  us  as  if  that  was  right. 
He  made  man,  in  the  first  place,  holy  and  capable  of 
doing  right,  but  without  a  confirmed  character  he  was 
liable  to  fall.  Ought  this  confirmed  character  to  result 
from  and  depend  upon  his  own  personal  actions? 

I  say  that  this  seems  to  be  God's  plan  everywhere,  be- 
cause we  find  it  true,  without  exception,  wherever  we 
have  any  record  of  God's  doiugs.  In  the  first  place,  he 
created  the  angels,  and  gave  the  angels  an  opportunity 
of  ubedience  or  an  opportunity  of  falling.  Each  one  of 
them  seems  to  have  stood  in  his  own  person,  and  those 
who  fell  remained  fallen.  Those  who  maintained  their 
first  state  continued  afterward  absolutely  and  eternally  in 
the  image  of  God.  Then  when  God  brings  forth  the 
gospel  his  method  is  to  preach  the  gospel  to  every  creat- 
ure, and  to  offer  to  all  men  this  amazing  gift  of  eter- 
nal life  which  covenants  confirmed  moral  character,  and 
which  we  may  receive  or  refuse  according  to  our  personal 
choice. 

Then,  if  this  were  so,  obviously  man  must  have  had  a 
probation — a  probation  in  its  very  essence,  because  a  time 
of  trial  and  state  of  trial  must  be  given.  That  is,  God 
put  man  in  a  state  of  existence  in  a  state  of  moral  equi- 
librium. He  was  in  equilibrium  because  he  was  holy. 
His  heart  was  disposed  aright ;  his  impulses  were  right. 
God  endowed  him  thus  with  original  righteousness ;  but 
he  was  in  a  state  of  freedom.  His  character  was  not  con- 
firmed;  he  was  capable  of  either  obeying  or  sinning. 


GOD'S  COVENANTS  WITH  MAN.  197 

Now,  it  would  have  been  an  infinite  loss  to  us,  an  incon- 
ceivable danger,  if  God  had  determined  to  keep  us  for 
ever,  throughout  all  the  unending  ages  of  eternity,  hang- 
ing thus  upon  the  ragged  edge  of  possible  probation,  and 
always  in  this  unstable  condition,  this  unstable  equilib- 
rium, able  to  do  right,  and  liable  also  to  fall ;  and  there- 
fore God  offered  to  man  in  this  gracious  covenant  of 
works  an  opportunity  of  accepting  his  grace  and  receiv- 
ing his  covenant  gift  of  a  confirmed,  holy  character,  se- 
cured on  the  condition  of  personal  choice. 

God  gasre  Adam  and  Eve  the  best  chance  he  could, 
and  he  put  them  surely  under  absolutely  the  most  favor- 
able conditions  that  we  can  conceive  of.  He  brought 
them  into  a  new  garden,  and  he  introduced  them  under 
the  most  favorable  circumstances,  with  one  exception :  he 
allowed  the  devil  to  go  into  the  camp.  Why  he  did 
that  I  do  not  know ;  but  with  that  exception  the  condi- 
tions were  the  most  favorable  we  can  conceive  of.  Then 
he  reduced  the  test  to  the  simplest  and  easiest — the  test 
simply  of  a  personal  violation  of  law,  a  test  simply  of 
loyal  obedience.  He  did  not  make  the  condition,  Thou 
shalt  not  lie ;  which,  under  the  circumstances,  would 
have  been  utterly  impossible  to  Adam,  who  was  a  holy, 
honest  man.  He  did  not  make  the  condition,  Thou  shalt 
not  abuse  thy  wife  Eve ;  which  would  have  been  impos- 
sible with  Adam  in  his  state  as  he  was  originally  created. 
But  he  reduced  the  condition  to  one  of  specific  obedience 
to  a  positive  command,  in  itself  absolutely  distinct.  Now, 
the  only  difficulty  that  seems  to  inhere  in  this  view  of 
man's  original  condition  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  destinies 
of  all  Adam's  descendants  were  made  to  be  suspended 
upon  his  action.     We  all  inherit  what  we  call  "  original 


198  GOD'S  COVENANTS   WITH  MAN. 

sin."  And  two  questions  here  start  up,  the  question  as 
to  Iww  original  sin  comes  upon  us ;  and  the  question  why 
original  sin,  under  the  government  of  a  holy  God,  is  al- 
lowed to  come  upon  us. 

These  are  two  entirely  distinct  questions.  You  do 
not  answer  the  question  why  when  you  explain  the 
method  by  which  original  sin  comes  down  to  us  in  the 
order  of  generation ;  you  must  carry  the  question  up  to 
a  higher  plane  and  solve  it  in  the  light  of  divine  choice. 
Undoubtedly,  this  bringing  down  upon  each  individual 
this  original  taint  of  our  nature,  which  is  the  fontal 
source  of  all  evils — moral,  physical,  temporal,  eternal — 
is  the  greatest  of  all  judgments,  and  it  is  either  a  tyran- 
nical act  of  the  Creator  or  it  is  a  sublime  act  of  justice. 
Every  angel  was  created  a  spirit ;  every  angel  was  con- 
stituted self-determining  in  his  own  person.  But  con- 
stituted as  we  are,  possessing  a  responsible  and  moral 
nature  like  angels,  which  comes  into  existence  in  connec- 
tion with  propagated  animal  bodies,  such  an  individual 
probation  is  absolutely  impossible.  From  the  very  con- 
stitution of  the  human  body  and  from  the  nature  of  the 
case  anything  that  Adam  did  must  determine  his  destiny 
and  that  of  his  children.  As  Hugh  Miller  says,  "  It  is 
a  universal  law,  just  as  wide  as  the  providence  of  God 
and  as  the  history  of  man,  that  God  has  so  constituted 
men  everywhere  that  the  free-will  of  the  parent  becomes 
the  destiny  of  the  child."  If  this  be  so,  we  must  be- 
lieve in  the  covenant  of  works,  and  that  God  has  ordained 
this  relation  not  only  in  infinite  wisdom  and  in  infinite 
power,  but  in  infinite  justice  and  righteousness. 

But  this  fact  of  the  covenant  of  works  does  not  stand 
by  itself.     It  is  a  part  of  a  great  whole,  and  if  you  leave 


GOD'S  COVENANTS   WITH  MAN.  199 

out  any  element  of  the  system  you  will  not  get  an  un- 
derstanding of  the  covenant.  This  covenant  of  works 
which  God  introduces,  and  the  subject  of  which  is  the 
government  of  man  and  his  whole  career  in  this  world, 
is  part  of  that  greater  system  which  culminates  in  the 
covenant  of  grace,  with  its  headship  in  the  first  Adam 
introducing  us  into  the  headship  of  the  second  Adam. 
There  has  been  no  Christ  excej)t  among  men.  "  Foras- 
much then  as  the  children  are  partakers  of  flesh  and 
blood,  he  also  himself  likewise  took  part  of  the  same. 
....  For  verily  not  of  angels  doth  he  take  hold,  but 
he  taketh  hold  of  the  seed  of  Abraham."  Angels  had  a 
nature,  but  angels  did  not  have  a  seed.  Christ's  relation 
to  the  seed  of  Abraham  results  from  the  generic  nature 
of  man,  from  the  very  constitution  of  the  covenant  of 
works.  If  there  had  been  no  covenant  of  works,  there 
could  have  been  no  covenant  of  redemption ;  if  there  had 
been  no  fallen  Adam,  there  could  have  been  no  redemp- 
tion in  Christ.  You  must  study  the  covenant  of  works 
always  in  the  light  of  that  larger  system  wherein  it  is 
established  that  where  sin  abounded  grace  has  infinitely 
more  abounded. 

Further  we  say,  then,  that  if  the  Father  and  Son  and 
Holy  Spirit  constitute  one  Trinity,  the  plan  must  be  a 
mutual  one,  and  must  contain  within  it  all  the  elements 
of  such  a  plan.  According  to  the  intimation  of  this  plan 
given  in  the  Bible,  the  Father  must  be  an  absolute  God ; 
the  Son  must  represent  his  own  people,  whose  nature  he 
was  to  take.  We  know  such  an  arrangement  was  made. 
Christ  often  speaks  of  the  work  which  his  Father,  God, 
had  sent  him  to  do.  He  says,  "  This  commandment  have 
I  received  from  my  Father."     Then  he  says,  "All  that 


200  GOD'S  COVENANTS  WITH  MAN. 

the  Father  giveth  me  shall  come  to  me."  Here  are  all 
the  elements  of  a  covenant.  There  was  an  understand- 
ing between  the  Father  and  the  Son  as  to  the  reward 
which  the  Son  was  to  gain,  so  that  we  have  all  the  ele- 
ments of  the  covenant  of  redemption.  The  Father  un- 
dertook all  the  providential  conditions ;  the  Son  was  to 
do  all  the  work  in  the  world,  and  to  that  end  the  world 
is  to  be  prepared  for  it,  and  that  he  might  have  the 
proper  conditions  of  life,  and  afterward  that  he  should 
see  his  seed  and  be  satisfied  with  the  results,  with  the 
crowning  fruits  that  he  should  receive.  Then  the  Son 
undertook,  on  behalf  of  his  own  people,  to  take  upon 
himself  their  nature,  to  meet  their  obligations  and  to 
suffer  the  penalty  wThich  had  been  pronounced  upon 
them.  The  Holy  Ghost  undertook  also  afterward  to 
apply  these  benefits,  and  undertook  this  part  of  the 
work  because  it  is  the  covenant  of  three  Persons,  you 
must  remember.  He  undertook  the  work  of  generating 
the  body  of  the  Son,  of  preparing  his  human  nature,  an 
entire  human  nature  in  its  fullness,  so  as  to  render  him, 
on  the  human  side,  a  proper  being.  The  Holy  Ghost 
undertook  to  co-operate  with  him  in  every  part  of  his 
earthly  being,  and  then  to  constitute  himself  the  other 
Advocate,  which  completes  the  whole  work  of  redemp- 
tion. He  comes  to  us  and  takes  the  things  of  Christ 
and  applies  them  to  us.  He  makes  continual  interces- 
sion within  us  as  Christ  makes  continual  intercession 
for  us. 

Now,  what  is  commonly  called  the  covenant  of  grace 
as  distinct  from  the  covenant  of  redemption  is  just  the 
human  and  external  side  of  this  eternal  covenant  of  re- 
demption. 


GOD'S  COVENANTS  WITH  MAN.  201 

Both  the  covenants  are  executed  in  our  behalf,  both 
under  one  name,  the  covenant  of  grace.  It  is  better, 
however,  to  distinguish  them,  and  to  call  the  covenant 
between  the  Persons  of  the  eternal  Godhead  the  covenaut 
of  redemption,  which  is  eternally  transcendent,  and 
which  is  full  of  light  and  love  and  life  and  power,  the 
provisions  and  scope  of  whose  grace  transcend  the  im- 
aginations of  man  or  the  tongues  of  angels.  But  the 
covenant  of  grace  is  just  the  human  temporal  side,  which 
makes  human  redemption  possible  and  gives  its  benefits 
freely  to  us.  In  the  case  of  every  one  to  whom  the  gos- 
pel comes,  aud  to  whom  it  gives  salvation,  it  is  doue  upon 
the  condition  of  faith.  Now,  here  is  a  covenant  with  a 
condition — whosoever  believes  shall  be  saved,  whosoever 
believeth  not  shall  be  damned.  Then  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  comes  to  view  and  is  represented  as  the  Mediator 
of  the  covenant,  because  it  all  depends  upon  his  media- 
torial work,  and,  above  all,  he  is  represented  as  the 
Surety.  We  promise  and  he  indorses.  You  promise 
faith  upon  your  knees,  and  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in- 
dorses for  you.  You  promise  service  upon  your  knees, 
and  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  indorses  for  you.  You  see 
how  much  it  is  that  God  asks  of  you.  He  says  you  shall 
be  saved.  If  we  have  no  belief  we  are  utterly  incom- 
petent to  attain  to  that  salvation ;  Christ  gives  us  faith  : 
we  promise  trust,  and  Christ  indorses  it.  We  are  offered 
salvation  if  we  will  serve ;  but  we  have  no  strength,  no 
merit.  Christ  gives  us  the  grace ;  wTe  promise,  since 
Christ  indorses  it;  we  are  offered  salvation  if  we  fight 
the  battle  and  persevere  unto  the  end ;  we  make  our 
pledge,  Christ  indorses  it.  Thus  our  salvation  is  abso- 
lutely and  infinitely  secure. 


202  GOD'S  COVENANTS  WITH  MAN. 

Now,  of  course  this  covenant  sustains  to  the  whole 
work  in  the  whole  sphere  of  redemption  the  same 
relation  as  the  constitution  of  a  republic  or  of  a  limit- 
ed monarchy  sustains  to  the  government  of  a  land. 
Potentially,  all  the  powers  of  government,  all  the  ele- 
ments of  political  society,  are  represented  and  granted 
in  the  provisions  of  our  constitution,  and  so  potentially 
all  the  elements  of  salvation,  everything  that  can  be  ex- 
perienced in  the  body  of  Christians  in  the  earth,  every- 
thing that  can  be  distinct  to  the  soul  of  the  Christian 
on  earth,  everything  that  can  be  experienced  through- 
out all  eternity,  everything  that  can  be  realized  in  the 
individual,  everything  that  can  be  realized  in  the  com- 
munity, the  whole  body  of  the  redeemed, — all  this  is 
contained  potentially  in  the  provisions  of  the  covenant 
of  grace.  But  this  covenant,  like  all  other  covenants 
and  constitutions,  must  be  administered,  and  there  is  a 
difference  between  the  covenant  and  its  administration. 
The  covenant  is  one ;  it  is  the  administration  which 
varies  continually. 

This  is  a  form  of  language  which  it  would  have  been 
very  well  for  the  translators  of  our  Bible  to  have 
adopted.  The  Greek  word  diathehe  means  constitution 
as  much  as  anything  else  in  the  world.  It  is  a  consti- 
tution. In  the  old  classical  language  it  was  used  to 
express  that  kind  of  a  constitution  which  a  man  makes 
when  he  makes  a  will,  a  testament.  You  have  the  unal- 
terable inheritance,  and  you  can  never  get  rid  of  it.  I 
prefer  the  old  Latin  word  "  dispensation  "  to  the  words 
New  Testament  and  Old  Testament.  These  are  not 
proper  terms.  The  word  diatheke  occurs  dozens  of 
times   in   the   Bible ;  you   can   see   the   use   of  it   and 


GOD'S  COVENANTS   WITH  MAN.  203 

determine  the  sense — the  constitution,  the  administra- 
tion of  the  constitution.  That  is,  it  is  a  covenant  or 
it  is  a  dispensation  of  God.  You  are  familiar  with  the 
fact  that  the  government  of  the  United  States  has  but 
one  Constitution,  and  has  had  for  one  hundred  years 
that  which  has  constituted  us  a  nation  and  provided  for 
all  its  functions  through  the  whole  history  of  our  won- 
derful development.  And  yet  this  Constitution  may  be 
administered  differently  by  different  administrations : 
it  may  be  in  the  hands  of  Federalists,  or  it  may  in 
the  hands  of  Republicans,  or  it  may  be  in  the  hands 
of  Democrats,  but  continually  and  all  the  time  it  is  the 
same  Constitution  thoroughly  administered.  If  you 
will  then  just  go  back  to  your  Greek  concordance  and 
take  up  your  New  Testament  where  this  word  first 
occurs,  and  carry  it  through,  you  will  find  how  exactly 
it  has  this  meaning.  You  see  that  covenant,  or  consti- 
tution of  grace  in  the  form  of  a  covenant,  which  pro- 
vides for  the  salvation  of  man  from  the  beginning  of 
the  history  of  the  human  race  to  the  present. 

So  there  has  been  but  one  redemption,  there  has 
been  but  one  atonement  and  one  offer  of  justification, 
there  has  been  but  one  offer  of  regeneration,  there  has 
been  but  one  principle  of  sanctification,  there  has  been 
but  one  operation  of  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Ghost,  from 
the  time  that  the  first  gospel  was  preached  to  the  woman 
in  the  garden  until  the  present  day ;  but  then  this  won- 
derful constitution  has  been  administered  in  an  infinite 
variety  of  ways,  and  it  is  capable  of  twofold  unfolding. 
You  take  up  this  constitution  and  subject  it  to  a  logical 
unfolding,  and  you  have  in  it,  of  course,  all  possible 
theology.     It  has  been  shown  over  and  over  again  how 


204  GOD'S  COVENANTS  WITH  MAN. 

all  the  unfolding  of  God's  plans,  as  far  as  those  plans 
have  been  disclosed  to  us  and  can  be  exhibited,  makes 
manifest  infinite  variations  and  provisions  for  the  re- 
demption of  men  which  can  be  exhibited  under  this 
form,  logically  and  unvaryingly. 

There  is  a  second  unfolding  of  the  covenant  of  grace 
which  is  chronological ;  not  only  is  it  unfolded  logically 
in  itself,  but  it  brings  out  all  the  different  elements  in 
time.  It  has  been  unfolded  chronologically  from  the 
Garden  of  Eden  up  to  the  present  time  in  the  wonder- 
ful development  of  the  Church  of  the  first-born,  the 
Church  of  the  covenant,  the  Church  purchased  by 
Christ's  blood. 

The  Church  and  its  Unity. 

"What  is  the  Church?  There  is  one  thing  certain 
about  it :  the  Church  has  a  great  many  attributes,  but 
that  which  is  absolutely  essential  is  its  absolute  unity. 
There  is  no  doubt  if  there  be  but  one  God  there  is  but 
one  Church  ;  if  there  be  but  one  Christ,  there  is  but  one 
Church ;  if  there  be  but  one  cross,  there  is  but  one 
Church ;  if  there  be  but  one  Holy  Ghost,  there  is  but 
one  Church.  This  is  absolutely  settled — there  can  be 
but  one  Church.  We  have  heard  about  the  visible  and 
invisible  Church,  as  if  there  were  two  churches.  There 
cannot  be  two  churches,  one  that  is  visible  and  another 
that  is  invisible.  There  is  but  one  Church,  and  that 
Church  is  visible  or  invisible  just  according  to  the  eye 
that  is  looking,  just  according  to  the  point  of  view  taken. 

Now,  I  take  the  true  distinction  to  be,  the  Church  as 
we  see  it,  the  normal  Church,  and  the  Church  as  God 
sees  it.     In  respect  to  this  matter  our  vision  is  limited 


GOD'S  COVENANTS  WITH  MAN.  205 

in  the  way  of  discrimination.  You  and  I  cannot  dis- 
criminate in  regard  to  the  Church;  we  have  to  take 
presumptions,  we  have  to  take  the  outward  indications 
when  we  make  an  examination.  God's  eye  is  abso- 
lutely discriminating.  Looking  down,  he  sees  the  line 
of  demarcation  which  separates  the  Church  and  the 
world;  his  vision  is  sharp  and  keen.  Then,  again, 
our  view  is  not  very  comprehensive ;  we  see  what  we 
call  the  Church,  and  we  conclude  that  it  is  the  Church. 
I  have  often  thought  of  this  as  an  illustration.  I  ask  a 
man,  "  Have  you  seen  the  planet,  the  Earth  ?"  he  would 
say,  "  Yes,  I  live  on  it."  That  is  one  of  the  reasons 
you  never  saw  it.  You  never  saw  the  planet  Earth  as 
you  see  the  planet  Jupiter ;  you  never  saw  the  planet 
Earth  as  you  see  its  satellite,  the  moon.  It  is  abso- 
lutely impossible ;  you  are  too  near  it ;  you  see  but  one 
little  segment  of  it;  nothing  but  a  fraction — a  very 
little  at  a  time.  You  must  get  away  from  the  object  in 
order  to  take  it  in  as  a  whole,  and  you  must  have  the 
advantage  of  perspective.  So  in  regard  to  the  Church ; 
it  is  so  vast,  it  has  been  gathering  through  the  ages, 
through  the  centuries,  through  millenniums ;  its  mem- 
bers come  from  the  ends  of  the  earth ;  and  myriads, 
ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand  and  thousands  of 
thousands  beyond  the  calculations  of  angels,  have 
been  gathering  there  in  white  robes  around  the  throne 
of  Christ.  Can  you  see  it  ?  We  are  too  purblind,  too 
earthly  in  our  conditions ;  but  we  may  see  a  part  of  it. 
What  is  called  the  invisible  Church  is  the  most  conspic- 
uous object  in  the  universe ;  it  has  come  to  shine,  to  be 
like  the  sun^  and  like  an  army  with  banners.  What  is 
called  the  invisible  Church  is  the  only  Church  that  exists. 


206  GOD'S  COVENANTS   WITH  MAN. 

We  see  parts  of  it;  it  becomes  visible  to  us  in  sections, 
in  partial  glimpses ;  but  yet  it  is  the  same  Church.  Now, 
the  distinction  I  make  is,  the  Church  as  God  sees  it  and 
the  Church  as  man  sees  it. 

There  have  been  two  distinct  conceptions  of  the 
Church :  one  is  the  theory  that  the  Church  consists  of 
an  organized  society  which  God  has  constituted,  that 
identity  consists  in  its  external  form  as  well  as  in  its 
spirit,  and  that  its  life  depends  upon  continuity  of 
officers  from  generation  to  generation.  This  is  held 
by  a  great  many  able  men,  men  of  intellect,  and  by 
many  respectable,  level-headed  Christians  as  well. 

I  hold  this  to  be  simply  impossible.  The  marks  of 
the  Church  are  catholicity,  apostolicity,  infallibility  and 
purity.  Now,  apply  that  to  any  corporation — to  the 
Church  in  Jerusalem  or  to  the  Church  in  Antioch ;  to 
the  Congregational  Church,  to  the  Presbyterian,  or  to 
the  prelatical  churches.  I  do  not  care  as  to  the  form  ; 
but  there  never  did  exist,  and  there  does  not  now  exist, 
any  organized  society  upon  the  face  of  the  earth  of 
which  these  qualities  could  be  predicated.  Not  one  of 
these  societies  has  apostolicity — that  is,  precisely  the 
apostolic  form  as  well  as  the  apostolic  spirit ;  not  one 
of  these  societies  has  had  an  absolute  organic  continuity, 
or  has,  without  modification,  preserved  it.  Societies 
like  the  Church  of  Rome,  which  are  most  conspicuous 
in  claiming  these  marks  for  themselves,  are  most  con- 
spicuously unworthy  of  them,  because  there  is  no  com- 
parison between  their  ritual  of  service,  their  organiza- 
tion, and  the  apostolic  Church  with  which  they  claim  to 
be  identified. 

The  only  possible  definition  of  a  Church  is  that  it  con- 


GOD'S  COVENANTS  WITH  MAN.  207 

sists  of  what  is  termed  "  the  body  of  Christ " — that  is, 
human  souls  regenerated  by  the  presence  and  power  of 
the  Holy  Ghost,  kept  in  immediate  union  with  Christ. 
Of  this  you  can  predicate  apostolicity,  catholicity  and 
the  sanctifying  power  and  perpetual  presence  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  which  belongs  to  the  Church  of  Christ. 
This  is  the  true  Church  which  exists  through  all  the 
successive  generations  of  men,  which  is  united  to  Christ, 
and  which  shares  in  the  benefits  of  his  redemption 
through  the  indwelling  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  This 
great  body  is  one  because  the  Holy  Ghost  dwells  in  it 
and  makes  it  one.  This  Church  is  apostolical,  because 
it  is  unchanging  as  to  apostolic  doctrine ;  it  is  catholic, 
because  it  contains  in  one  body  all  of  God's  people  in 
all  worlds  and  in  all  time ;  it  unites  all  from  the  crea- 
tion of  the  world  to  the  coming  of  Christ,  and  all  from 
the  coming  of  Christ  to  the  end  of  the  world,  in  one 
body — absolutely  one,  both  visible  and  invisible. 

But  you  may  ask  me,  as  a  good  Presbyterian,  a  High- 
Church  Presbyterian — because  we  have  a  High  Church 
as  well  as  a  Low  Church — you  may  ask  me,  Do  you 
not  think  there  is  a  visible  Church  ?  Yes,  I  believe  the 
true  Church  is  visible.  It  consists  of  men  and  women 
who  are  regenerated,  who  have  divine  life,  and  whose 
divine  life  is  shown  in  their  holy  walk  and  conversa- 
tion. You  ask  if  the  Church  must  not  be  organized  ? 
I  say  yes,  but  organization  is  never  an  essential  of  the 
Church.  Organization  is  a  simple  accident ;  it  is  a  nec- 
essary accident ;  it  is  a  very  important  one  with  us ;  it 
is,  according  to  our  mode  of  thinking,  obligatory,  be- 
cause it  is  commanded.  By  means  of  organization  we 
have  solidification  and  growth,  and  it  is  a  great  means 


208  GOD'S  COVENANTS  WITH  MAN. 

of  self-propagation  in  accomplishing  the  great  mission- 
ary work  of  carrying  the  gospel  to  the  ends  of  the  earth. 
But  Christ  never  did  make  organization  needful  in  the 
sense  that  our  being  Presbyterians  is  an  essential  of  the 
Church. 

You  and  I  believe  that  immortality  is  provided  for 
all  souls  before  birth,  as  well  as  after  birth,  and  for 
infants  that  have  not  come  to  free  moral  agency,  irre- 
spective of  their  knowledge  of  Christ.  Now,  think  of 
the  history  of  the  world  since  Adam :  all  the  souls  of 
those  that  have  died  before  birth  or  between  birth  and 
moral  agency  have  been  redeemed  in  Christ.  You  see 
that  organization  cannot  be  the  essence  of  the  Church. 
I  tell  you  that  the  infinite  majority  of  the  spiritual 
Church  of  Jesus  Christ  come  into  existence  outside  of 
all  organization.  Through  all  the  ages,  from  Japan, 
from  China,  from  India,  from  Africa,  from  the  islands 
of  the  sea,  age  after  age,  multitudes  flocking  like  birds 
have  gone  to  heaven  of  this  great  company  of  redeemed 
infants  of  the  Church  of  God ;  they  go  without  organi- 
zation. Now,  this  is  demonstration :  that  if  the  great 
majority  of  the  Church  always  has  existed  outside  of 
organization,  then  organization,  while  of  assistance,  is 
not  essential  to  the  Church.  You  may  add  church  to 
church ;  these  are  but  the  incidental  forms  which  the 
universal  Church  of  God  assumes  on  different  occasions 
under  the  guidance  of  the  Spirit,  under  the  guidance  of 
God's  providence  as  a  great  propaganda  for  the  purpose 
of  accomplishing  the  great  and  divine  work  of  carrying 
the  gospel  to  the  ends  of  the  earth. 

The  Church  had  its  beginning  in  the  family.  The 
plan  of  redemption  assumes  and  presumes  the  original 


GOD'S  COVENANTS   WITH  MAN.  209 

state  of  human  beings  as  in  the  family.  How  has  the 
Church  been  logically  and  chronologically  composed  ? 

In  the  first  place,  we  have  what  is  called  the  patri- 
archal administration  in  the  original  constitution  of  the 
race.  There  was  no  organization  of  the  Church  then ; 
there  was  not  much  organization  in  the  world,  none  of 
the  state  as  distinct  from  the  family.  The  father  Mas 
the  sovereign  ;  the  great  father — that  is,  the  patriarch — 
was  the  head  of  the  Church ;  and  just  as  Adam  had  led 
his  descendants  away  from  God,  so  under  the  covenant 
of  redemption  did  these  patriarchal  fathers,  these 
prophets,  priests  and  kings,  lead  their  people  back  to 
him.  In  that  age  there  was  no  priesthood,  there  were 
no  sacraments.  The  next  form  was  the  Abrahamic  dis- 
pensation, which  was  a  more  specific  promise  to  the 
Church,  the  promise  connected  with  the  covenant  of 
grace.  There  was  more  light,  more  doctrine,  and  we 
have  here  the  specific  sacrament  of  circumcision  which 
was  added  to  the  specific  covenant. 

Then  we  come,  in  the  third  place,  to  the  Mosaic  dis- 
pensation. It  is  well  recognized  that  the  wonderful  phe- 
nomena of  this  dispensation  must  be  understood  as  pre- 
senting a  threefold  aspect  or  character,  and  it  becomes 
very  much  more  simple  when  we  do  this. 

In  the  first  place,  these  Jews  were  a  people  who,  in 
their  own  time,  coustituted  a  distinct  nation.  God  was 
their  God,  and  a  large  portion  of  his  providences  toward 
them  had  reference  simply  to  their  temporal  interests  and 
to  their  relations  as  a  specific  people.  They  had  a  gov- 
ernment which  guarded  the  relations  they  sustained  to 
other  nations  ;  therefore  you  must  understand  a  great 
many  of  their  laws  with  reference  to  this  specific  char- 

14 


210  GOD'S  COVENANTS   WITH  MAN. 

acteristic.  The  Jews  were  constituted  a  kingdom,  and 
God  was  their  God. 

Another  far  more  important  aspect  of  the  Jewish  sys- 
tem was  this :  it  was  a  promulgation  of  the  covenant  of 
works  which  was  introduced  at  Sinai,  and  the  design  of 
this  promulgation  was  to  lead  those  generations  to  the 
gospel,  for  the  gospel  presupposes  the  law ;  the  law  has 
been  from  the  beginning  the  schoolmaster  to  lead  us  to 
Christ.  Therefore  in  this  aspect  it  was  a  missionary  in- 
stitution, and  must  be  understood  as  preparatory ;  it  was 
the  preaching  of  the  doctrine  of  sin  and  condemnation 
in  order  to  prepare  man  for  the  preaching  of  the  doctrine 
of  grace  and  salvation. 

Then,  again,  it  did  most  characteristically  in  the  spe- 
cific form  of  its  administration  outline  the  covenant  of 
redemption ;  it  was  the  setting  forth  of  Christ — Christ 
as  the  Prophet,  Priest  and  King — in  the  method  of  his 
redemption  and  our  personal  reception  of  its  benefits. 
The  conditions  of  salvation  were  the  same,  and  salvation 
was  secured  by  the  same  plan.  The  Jew,  if  he  believed 
in  Christ's  coming,  was  justified  and  received  the  Holy 
Ghost,  although  without  understanding  it,  and  was  re- 
generated, sanctified  and  justified  ;  and  being  thus  justi- 
fied and  sanctified,  when  he  died  he  went  to  be,  not  with 
Christ — there  was  at  that  time  no  incarnate  Christ;  he 
did  not  exist — but  he  went  into  that  happy  place  in 
which  God  gathered  all  his  Old  Testament  people — in 
Abraham's  bosom. 

Now,  how  shall  we  regard  the  logical  unfolding  of  the 
covenant  from  the  time  of  Moses  to  the  time  of  Christ  ? 
First,  we  have  the  breaking  down  of  the  middle  wall  of 
partition  by  the  taking  away  of  the  limitation  presented 


GOD'S  COVENANTS  WITH  MAN.  211 

by  the  institution  of  the  Church  as  a  nation ;  it  was  con- 
fined under  these  circumstances  to  one  people ;  it  was  in- 
capable of  being  expanded  among  the  nations  of  the 
earth.    It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  the  Old  Dispensation 
opened  with  the  tower  of  Babel  and  the  confusion  of 
tongues,  and  the  New  opens  with  the  Pentecost  and  the 
gift  of  tongues.     The  Old  Dispensation  began  with  the 
process  of  selection  and  exclusion  :  there  was  an  election 
of  the  children  of  Israel  out  of  all  mankind,  and  a  re- 
jection of  all  the  rest;  a  selection  of  the  Israelites  out 
of  the  Hebrews,  and  the  rejection  of  the  rest ;  and  the 
selection  of  Judah  out  of  Israel,  and  the  rejection  of  the 
rest.     But  now  see  how  the  principle  changes.     Under 
the  Old  Dispensation  it  was  exclusion  and  segregation  • 
under  the  New  Testament  it  is  expansion  and  compre- 
hension.     The  new  Church   begins  in  a   little  upper 
chamber  in  Jerusalem.    The  Church  becomes  the  Church 
of  the  Jews ;  it  becomes  the  Church  of  the  Roman  em- 
pire ;  it  becomes  the  Church  of  Europe  j  it  becomes  the 
Church  of  the  world. 

Now,  as  to  the  unity  of  this  Church  I  have  something 
to  say.  A  great  many  are  agitated  at  present  with  re- 
gard to  Church  unity  and  its  manifestations,  and  I  think 
there  is  a  great  deal  of  confusion  of  thought  as  to  the 
original  conception  of  the  Church  itself.  If  the  Church 
be  an  external  society,  then  all  deviation  from  that  so- 
ciety is  of  the  nature  of  schism  ■  but  if  the  Church  be 
in  its  essence  a  great  spiritual  body,  constituted  by  the 
indwelling  of  the  Holy  Ghost  through  all  the  ages  and 
nations,  uniting  all  to  Christ,  and  if  its  external  organi- 
zation is  only  accidental  and  temporary  and  subject  to 
change  and  variation,  then  deviation  of  organization, 


212  GOD'S  COVENANTS   WITH  MAN. 

unless  touched  by  the  spirit  of  schism,  is  not  detrimental 
to  the  Church.  I  do  believe  that  God's  purpose,  on 
the  contrary,  has  been  to  differentiate  his  Church  with- 
out end.  You  know  that  the  very  highest  form  of  beauty 
of  which  you  can  conceive,  the  very  highest  form  of 
order,  is  multiplicity  in  unity  and  unity  in  multiplicity ; 
the  higher  the  order  of  unity,  the  greater  must  be  the 
multiplicity. 

This  is  so  everywhere.  Go  to  the  ocean;  every  drop  of 
water  is  the  repetition  of  every  other  drop,  and  there  is 
union  simply  without  diversity.  Go  to  the  desert  of  Sa- 
hara, and  every  grain  of  sand  is  the  duplicate  of  even- 
other  grain  of  sand,  but  there  is  no  unity,  no  life.  You 
could  not  make  a  great  cathedral  by  piling  up  simple 
identical  rhomboids  or  cubes  of  stone.  It  is  because  you 
differentiate,  and  make  every  stone  of  a  different  form 
in  order  to  perform  a  different  function,  and  then  build 
them  up  out  of  this  multitudinous  origination  into  the 
continuity  and  unity  of  the  one  plan  or  architectural 
idea,  that  you  have  your  cathedral.  You  could  not 
make  a  great  piece  of  music  by  simply  multiplying  the 
same  tone  or  sound.  In  order  to  obtain  the  harmony 
of  a  great  orchestra  you  get  together  a  large  number  of 
musical  instruments,  or  you  have  a  great  number  of  hu- 
man voices  in  a  choir,  and  you  combine  them ;  then  you 
have  an  infinite  variety  of  quality  and  infinite  variety 
of  tone.  You  combine  them  in  the  absolute  unit  of  the 
one  great  musical  idea  which  you  seek  to  express. 

But  if  this  is  true  of  such  things,  it  is  more  true  of 
Christ's  Church.  If  God  had  followed  our  idea,  how 
simple  a  thing  it  would  have  been  to  make  a  united 
Church  descending  from  Adam  and  Eve !     We  might 


GOD'S  COVENANTS  WITH  MAN.  213 

think  that  was  all  that  could  be  done,  and  there  would 
be  then  no  stones  of  stumbling.  You  could  then  watch 
this  Church,  and  it  would  go  on  indefinitely  and  with- 
out limit. 

Now,  what  has  God  been  doing?  He  has  broken 
humanity  up  into  infinite  varieties.  This  has  been  his 
method.  He  has  been  driving  it  into  every  clime.  He 
has  been  driving  it  into  every  age  through  the  succession 
of  centuries.  He  has  been  moulding  human  nature 
under  every  variety  of  influences  through  all  time,  until 
he  has  got  men  in  every  age,  every  tribe,  every  tongue, 
every  nation,  every  color,  every  fashion — in  order  to  do 
what  ?  Simply  to  build  up  a  variety,  to  build  up  the 
rich,  inexhaustible  variety  which  constitutes  the  beauty 
in  unity  of  this  great  infinite  Church  of  the  first-born, 
whose  final  dwelling-place  is  to  be  in  heaven. 

I  say,  under  this  dispensation  God  has  left  us  free  to 
form  organizations.  He  has  left  us  free  to  experience 
Christianity  under  all  the  conditions  in  which  he  has 
placed  us ;  and  the  Christian  religion  which  we  receive 
takes  various  colors  and  tones  from  the  nationality,  from 
the  tribe  and  from  the  race.  Undoubtedly,  there  is  such 
a  thing  as  schism.  Schism  is  a  great  sin.  But  if  the 
Church  is  a  spiritual  body,  the  sin  is  a  sin  against  spirit- 
ual unity. 

All  high-churchism,  all  claims  that  our  Church  is  the 
one  Church  and  only  Church,  are  of  the  essence  of  schism ; 
all  pride  and  bigotry  are  of  the  essence  of  schism ;  all  want 
of  universal  love,  all  jealousy,  and  all  attempts  to  take 
advantage  of  others  in  controversy  or  in  Church  exten- 
sion, are  of  the  essence  of  schism ;  but  surely  it  is  not 
schism  for  each  one  of  us  to  go  out  and  develop  in  our 


214  GOD'S  COVENANTS   WITH  MAN. 

own  way.  "What  is  the  result  ?  I  trust  in  this  I  am 
not  narrow,  I  am  not  making  any  claim  for  Presbyterian- 
ism  ;  I  am  talking  of  the  whole  Church  of  God  that  is 
truly  loyal  to  Christ,  animated  by  one  spirit,  compre- 
hended in  one  body.  On  the  other  hand,  I  hold  that  it 
is  our  interest  to  have  denominational  differences  in  order 
to  maintain  what  God  has  given  us. 

I  believe  the  Church  is  like  the  world,  and  consists  of 
many  forms,  many  races.  I  say  to  every  race,  Maintain 
the  integrity  of  your  race,  and  to  every  nation,  Maintain 
the  integrity  of  your  nation,  that  it  be  not  antagonized 
by  other  nations.  This  is  the  duty  which  God  has  his- 
torically devolved  upon  us.  I  say,  then,  if  Presbyterian- 
ism  be  true,  maintain  the  type  which  God  has  given  you ; 
and  I  would  say  the  same  to  our  Baptist  friends  and  to 
our  Episcopal  friends  and  Methodist  friends.  I  believe 
all  our  denominations  are  historically  justified;  that  they 
all  represent  great  ideas,  either  theoretically  or  practi- 
cally, which  God  commits  to  them  in  order  to  have  them 
act  upon  them ;  that  our  duty  is  to  maintain  our  true  in- 
heritance and  to  prove  true  to  the  stock  from  which  we 
came.  We  do  desire  comprehensively  to  work  together 
toward  unity,  but  mongrelism  is  not  the  way  to  get  it. 
It  is  not  by  the  uniting  of  types,  but  by  the  unity  of  the 
Spirit;  it  is  not  by  working  from  without,  but  from 
within  outward ;  by  taking  on  more  of  Christ,  more  of 
the  Spirit, — that  we  will  realize  more  and  more  the 
unity  of  the  Church  in  our  own  happy  experience. 


LECTURE  X. 

THE  PERSON  OF  CHRIST. 

It  is  the  grand  distinction  of  Christianity  that  all  Its 
doctrines  and  all  its  forces  centre  in  the  Person  of  its 
Founder  and  Teacher.  In  the  case  of  all  the  other 
founders  of  philosophical  sects  and  religions  the  entire 
interest  of  their  mission  centres  in  the  doctrines  they 
teach,  the  opinions  they  disseminate.  This  was  obviously 
true  in  the  case  of  Zoroaster,  Confucius  and  Buddha,  of 
Plato,  Aristotle  and  Cicero,  of  Moses  and  Paul.  In  the 
case  of  each  of  them  the  question  was  not  what  they 
were,  but  what  they  taught.  But  in  the  case  of  Chris- 
tianity the  entire  system,  from  foundation  to  super- 
structure, rests  upon  and  derives  its  life  from  the  Per- 
son of  its  Founder.  The  question  of  questions  is  what 
he  was,  rather  than  what  he  taught. 

This  can  be  proved  :  (1)  From  an  examination  of  each 
of  the  doctrines  of  Christianity  separately.  All  that  the 
Scriptures  teach  of  the  Mosaic  dispensation  and  its 
typical  character ;  of  the  burden  of  all  the  prophets ; 
of  the  new  birth  ;  of  repentance  and  faith  ;  of  justifi- 
cation and  sanctification ;  of  holy  living  and  of  the 
Christian  Church  ;  of  the  state  of  the  soul  after  death  ; 
of  the  resurrection  from  the  dead ;  of  the  general  judg- 
ment ;  and  of  heaven  itself, — takes  its  meaning  and  force 
from  its  relation  to  the  person,  offices  and  work  of  Christ. 

215 


216  THE  PEESON  OF  CHRIST. 

(2)  From  the  experience  of  Christians.  We  believe 
Moses  and  Paul,  but  we  believe  in  Christ.  To  be  a 
Christian  is  to  be  in  Jesus.  To  live  a  Christian  is  to 
have  fellowship  with  the  Father  and  the  Son.  To 
die  a  Christian  is  to  sleep  in  Jesus.  (3)  The  same  is 
proved,  in  the  third  place,  from  the  present  attitude 
of  the  great  controversy  between  Christianity  and  its 
opponents.  In  this  age,  in  which  secular  philosophy 
oscillates  between  Materialism  and  Pantheism,  when 
advanced  thinkers  disdain  all  the  old  questions  of  the- 
ology, natural  or  revealed,  even  the  most  inveterate 
skeptics  acknowledge  the  necessity  of  presenting  some 
solution  of  that  miracle  of  all  ages,  the  Person  of  Jesus 
of  Nazareth.  It  is  impossible  to  explain  that  unique 
phenomenon  which  emerged  on  the  hills  and  valleys 
of  Judea  eighteen  hundred  years  ago,  whose  life,  char- 
acter and  works  are  truly  inexplicable  unless  we  accept 
the  account  of  his  nature  and  his  origin  which  is  given 
to  us  in  the  Word  of  God.  The  press  groans  with  Ecce 
Homos  and  Lives  of  Christ,  and  with  new  versions  of 
rationalistic  theories,  mystical  and  legendary.  Thus 
the  infidel  is  constrained  to  unite  with  the  believer  in 
bearing  testimony  to  the  greatness  of  that  mystery  of 
godliness,  God  manifest  in  the  flesh. 

And  here,  in  the  very  heart  of  our  religion,  all  true 
Christians  agree.  The  entire  historical  Church,  in  all 
its  ages  and  in  all  its  branches — Greek  and  Roman, 
Lutheran  and  Reformed,  Calvinist  and  Arminian — are 
here  entirely  at  one. 

While  this  is  true  as  far  as  the  public  faith  of  the 
Church  is  concerned,  as  expressed  in  its  great  confes- 
sions, liturgies  and  hymns,  a  great  variety  of  opinion 


THE  PERSON  OF  CHRIST.  217 

and  diversity  of  speculation  and  definition  have  pre- 
vailed at  different  times  among  the  various  schools  of 
theology.  This  diversity  of  speculation  naturally  arose 
from  the  following  facts: 

1.  The  Person  of  the  incarnate  God  is  unique.  His 
birth  has  had  no  precedents  and  his  existence  no  analogy. 
He  cannot  be  explained  by  being  referred  to  a  class  nor 
can  he  be  illustrated  by  an  example. 

2.  The  Scriptures,  while  clearly  and  fully  revealing 
all  the  elements  of  his  Person,  yet  never  present  in  one 
formula  an  exhaustive  definition  of  that  Person,  nor  a 
connected  statement  of  the  elements  which  constitute  it 
and  their  mutual  relations.  The  impression  is  all  the 
more  vivid  because  it  is  made,  as  in  a  picture,  by  an  ex- 
hibition of  his  Person  in  action — an  exhibition  in  which 
the  divinity  and  humanity  are  alike  immediately  demon- 
strated by  the  self-revelation  of  their  attributes  in  ac- 
tion ;  and 

3.  This  unique  personality,  as  it  surpasses  all  analogy, 
also  transcends  all  understanding.  The  proud  intellect 
of  man  is  constantly  aspiring  to  remove  all  mysteries  and 
to  subject  the  whole  sphere  of  existence  to  the  daylight 
of  rational  explanation.  Such  attempts  are  constantly 
ending  in  the  most  grotesque  failure.  Even  in  the 
material  world  it  is  true  that  omnia  exeunt  in  mysterium. 
If  we  cannot  explain  the  relation  which  the  immaterial 
soul  sustains  to  the  organized  body  in  the  person  of  man, 
why  should  we  be  surprised  to  find  that  all  attempts  to 
explain  the  intimate  relations  which  the  eternal  Word 
and  the  human  soul  and  body  sustain  to  each  other  in 
the  Person  of  Christ  have  miserably  failed? 

Before  proceeding  to  the  historical  illustration  of  this 


218  THE  PERSON  OF  CHRIST. 

doctrine  I  call  your  attention  to  the  following  general 
remarks : 

1.  The  doctrine  of  the  Person  of  Christ  is  intimately 
associated  with  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity.  It  is  ob- 
viously impossible  to  hold  the  orthodox  view  with  re- 
spect to  the  divine-human  constitution  of  our  Lord  un- 
less we  first  believe  the  orthodox  doctrine  that  the  one 
God  exists  as  three  eternal  Persons,  Father,  Son  and 
Holy  Ghost.  At  the  same  time,  few  hold  the  true 
doctrine  as  to  the  tri-personal  constitution  of  the 
Trinity  without  at  the  same  time  holding  the  cor- 
responding catholic  doctrine  as  to  the  Person  of  the 
God-man. 

Indeed,  I  happen  to  know  that  the  great  objection 
which  the  most  able  and  influential  Unitariaus  entertain 
to  the  Trinitarian  system  is  not  originated  by  their  diffi- 
culty with  the  Trinity,  considered  by  itself,  but  because 
they  regard  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  to  be  inseparable 
from  that  of  the  Person  of  Christ  as  held  by  the  Church, 
which  to  them  appears  impossible  to  believe. 

And  undoubtedly  we  freely  admit  just  here  that  in 
the  constitution  of  the  Person  of  the  God-man  lies  the, 
to  us,  absolutely  insoluble  mystery  of  godliness.  How 
is  it  possible  that  the  same  Person  can  be  at  the  same 
time  infinite  and  finite,  ignorant  and  omniscient,  om- 
nipotent and  helpless  ?  How  can  two  complete  spirits 
coalesce  in  one  Person  ?  How  can  two  consciousnesses, 
two  understandings,  two  memories,  two  imaginations, 
two  wills  constitute  one  Person  ?  All  this  is  involved 
in  the  scriptural  and  Church  doctrine  of  the  Person  of 
Christ.  Yet  no  one  can  explain  it.  The  numerous  at- 
tempts made  to  explain  or  to  expel  this  mystery  have 


THE  PERSON  OF  CHRIST.  219 

only  filled  the  Church  with  heresies  and  obscured  the 
faith  of  Christians. 

2.  The  Scriptures  do  not  in  any  one  place  or  by  the 
means  of  distinct,  comprehensive  formulas  give  us  com- 
plete definitions  either  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  or 
of  that  of  the  Person  of  Christ.  They  do  give  us,  most 
explicitly  and  repeatedly,  all  the  elements  of  both  doc- 
trines, and  then  leave  us  to  put  all  the  several  teachings 
relating  to  the  same  subject  together,  and  so  to  construct 
the  entire  doctrine  by  the  synthesis  of  the  elements. 

Thus  (1)  as  to  the  Doctrine  of  the  Trinity. — The  Script- 
ures tell  us,  first,  that  there  is  but  one  God.  Then  we 
would  naturally  conclude  that  if  there  is  but  one  God, 
there  can  be  but  one  divine  Person.  But,  again,  the 
Scriptures  teach  us  that  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Ghost 
are  that  one  God.  Then,  again,  we  would  naturally  con- 
clude that  the  terms  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Ghost  are 
only  different  names,  qualitative  or  official,  of  one  Per- 
son. But  yet  again  the  Scriptures  prevent  us  and  teach 
us  that  these  names  designate  different  subjects  and 
agents.  The  Father  is  objective  to  the  Son,  and  the  Son 
to  the  Father,  and  both  to  the  Spirit.  They  love  each 
other  and  are  loved.  They  converse,  using  to  and  of 
each  other  the  personal  pronouns  I,  thou,  he.  The 
Father  sends  the  Son,  and  the  Father  and  Son  send  the 
Spirit,  and  they,  in  that  order,  act  as  agents,  proceed 
from  and  return  to,  and  report. 

The  Scriptures  also  teach  that  there  is  an  eternal  con- 
stitutional relation  of  order  and  origin  between  three 
Persons.  The  Father  is  the  fountain  of  Godhead.  He 
eternally  begets  the  Son  (the  process  is  without  beginning 
or  end  or  succession),  and  the  Father  and  Son  eternally 


220         THE  PERSON  OF  CHRIST. 

give  origin  to  the  Spirit.  (2)  In  the  very  same  manner 
the  Scriptures  teach  us  all  we  know  of  the  Person  of 
Christ.  Pointing  to  that  unique  phenomenon  exhibited 
biographically  in  the  four  Gospels,  the  Scriptures  affirm 
— (a)  "  He  is  God."  Then,  we  would  naturally  say,  if 
he  is  God,  he  cannot  be  man  ;  if  he  is  infinite,  he  cannot 
be  finite.  But  the  Scriptures  proceed  to  affirm,  pointing 
to  the  same  historical  subject,  "  He  is  man."  Then, 
again,  we  would  naturally  say,  if  that  phenomenon  is 
both  God  and  man,  he  must  be  two  Persons  in  reality, 
and  one  Person  only  in  appearance.  But  yet  again  the 
Scriptures  prevent  us.  In  every  possible  way  they  set 
him  before  us  as  one  Person.  His  divinity  is  never  ob- 
jective to  his  humanity,  nor  his  humanity  to  his  divinity. 
His  divinity  never  loves,  speaks  to  nor  sends  his  human- 
ity, but  both  divinity  and  humanity  act  together  as  the 
common  energies  of  one  Person.  All  the  attributes  and 
all  the  acts  of  both  natures  are  referred  to  the  one  Per- 
son. The  same  "  I "  possessed  glory  with  the  Father 
before  the  world  was,  and  laid  down  his  life  for  his  sheep. 
Sometimes  in  a  single  proposition  the  title  is  taken  from 
the  divine  side  of  his  person,  while  the  predicate  is  true 
only  of  his  human  side,  as  when  it  is  said,  "  The  Church 
of  God,  which  he  hath  purchased  with  his  own  blood." 
The  same  Person  is  called  God  because  of  his  divinity, 
while  it  is  affirmed  that  he  shed  his  human  blood  for  his 
Church.  Again,  while  standing  among  his  disciples  on 
the  earth  he  says,  "The  Son  of  man,  which  is  in  heav- 
en." Here  the  same  Person,  who  is  called  Son  of  man 
i 

because  of  his  humanity,  is  declared  to  be  omnipresent 
— i.  e.  at  the  same  time  on  earth  and  in  heaven — as  to 
his  divine  nature.     This,  of  course,  implies  absolute  sin- 


THE  PERSON  OF  CHRIST.  221 

gleuess  of  Person,  including  at  once  divine  and  human 
attributes. 

Again,  the  Scriptures  teach  us  that  this  amazing  per- 
sonality does  not  centre  in  his  humanity,  and  that  it  is 
not  a  composite  one  originated  by  the  power  of  the  Spirit 
when  he  brought  the  two  natures  together  in  the  womb 
of  the  Virgin  Mary.  It  was  not  made  by  adding  man- 
hood to  Godhead.  The  Trinity  is  eternal  and  unchange- 
able. A  new  Person  is  not  substituted  for  the  second 
Person  of  the  Trinity,  neither  is  a  fourth  Person  added 
to  the  Trinity.  But  the  Person  of  Christ  is  just  the  one 
eternal  Word,  the  second  Person  of  the  Trinity,  which 
in  time,  by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  through  the 
instrumentality  of  the  womb  of  the  Virgin,  took  a  hu- 
man nature  (not  a  man,  but  the  seed  of  man,  humanity 
in  the  germ)  into  personal  union  with  himself.  The 
Person  is  eternal  and  divine.  The  humanity  is  intro- 
duced into  it.  The  centre  of  the  personality  always 
continues  in  the  eternal  personal  Word  or  Son  of  God. 

Let  me  illustrate  this  by  your  personality  and  mine. 
We  consist  of  soul  and  body,  two  distinct  substances,  but 
one  person.  This  personality,  however,  is  not  composed 
of  the  union  of  soul  and  body  at  birth.  The  personality 
from  the  first  to  the  last  centres  in  the  soul  and  is  only 
shared  in  by  the  body. 

By  soul  we  mean  only  one  thing — i.  e.  an  incarnate 
spirit,  a  spirit  with  a  body.  Thus  we  never  speak  of  the 
souls  of  angels.  They  are  pure  spirits,  having  no  bodies. 
Put  a  spirit  in  a  body,  and  the  spirit  becomes  a  soul,  and 
the  body  is  quickened  into  life  and  becomes  a  part  of  the 
person  of  the  soul.  Separate  soul  and  body,  as  death 
does,  and  the  soul  becomes  a  ghost  and  the  body  becomes 


222  THE  PERSON  OF  CHRIST. 

a  corpse.  When  death  takes  place  the  body  passes  out 
of  the  personality,  is  called  "  it,"  and  placed  in  the 
grave;  while  the  soul,  still  continuing  the  person,  goes 
at  once  to  be  judged  of  God.  At  the  resurrection  the 
same  personal  soul  will  return  and  take  up  the  same 
body  once  discarded,  and,  receiving  it  again  into  its  per- 
sonality, will  stand  before  God  a  complete  man. 

So  the  divine  Word,  which  from  eternity  was  the  sec- 
ond Person  of  the  Trinity,  did  eighteen  hundred  years 
ago  take,  not  a  human  person,  but  a  human  nature  into 
his  eternal  personality,  which  ever  continues,  not  a  hu- 
man person  nor  a  divine-human  person,  but  the  eternal 
second  Person  of  the  Trinity,  with  a  human  nature  em- 
braced in  it  as  its  personal  organ. 

3.  There  is  one  obvious  respect  in  which  the  doctrines 
of  the  Trinity  and  of  the  Person  of  Christ  agree,  and 
one  in  which  they  no  less  obviously  differ.  They  agree 
in  that  both  alike  utterly  transcend  all  experience,  all 
analogy  and  all  adequate  grasp  of  human  reason.  But 
they  differ  in  that,  while  the  mystery  of  the  Trinity  is 
that  one  Spirit  should  exist  eternally  as  three  distinct 
Persons,  the  mystery  of  the  Person  of  Christ  is  that  two 
distinct  spirits  should  for  evermore  constitute  but  one 
Person. 

4.  If  you  give  due  attention  to  the  difficulties  involved 
in  each  of  these  divinely  revealed  doctrines,  you  would 
be  able  a  priori  to  anticipate  all  possible  heresies  which 
have  been  evolved  in  the  course  of  history.  All  truth 
is  catholic :  it  embraces  many  elements,  wide  horizons, 
and  therefore  involves  endless  difficulties  and  apparent 
inconsistencies.  The  mind  of  man  seeks  for  unity,  and 
tends  prematurely  to  force  a  unity  in  the  sphere  of  his 


THE  PERSON  OF  CHRIST.  223 

imperfect  knowledge  by  sacrificing  one  element  of  the 
truth  or  other  to  the  rest.  This  is  eminently  true  of  all 
rationalists.  They  are  clear  and  logical  at  the  expense 
of  being  superficial  and  half-orbed.  Heresy,  from  the 
Greek  eupeatt:,  means  an  act  of  choice,  and  hence  divis- 
ion, the  picking  and  choosing  a  part,  instead  of  compre- 
hensively embracing  the  whole  of  the  truth.  Almost 
all  heresies  are  partial  truths — true  in  what  they  affirm, 
but  false  in  what  they  deny. 

Take,  for  instance,  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity.  One 
eternal  Spirit  exists  eternally  as  Father,  Son  and  Holy 
Ghost,  three  distinct  Persons.  This  the  rationalists  can- 
not understand,  and  therefore  will  not  believe.  They 
proceed,  therefore,  to  deny  one  or  another  element  of 
the  whole  truth,  and  try  to  hold  the  dead  fragment 
remaining. 

Thus  (1)  they  attempted  to  cut  the  knot  by  denying 
the  divinity  of  Christ,  and  had  pure  lifeless  Moham- 
medan Unitarianism  left ;  (2)  they  pressed  the  unity  so 
close  that  they  had  but  one  Person  as  well  as  one  God, 
and  the  terms  "  Father,"  "  Son  "  and  "  Holy  Ghost " 
became  different  descriptive  or  official  titles  of  the  same 
Person  :  as  Grant  while  in  office  was  one  person,  and 
yet  at  the  same  time  was  husband  and  father,  command- 
er-in-chief of  the  army  and  navy,  and  President  of  the 
United  States,  so  the  Sabellians  say  Father,  Son  and 
Holy  Ghost  are  different  titles  of  the  same  Person  in 
different  characters  and  functions ;  (3)  or,  lastly,  they 
ran  to  the  other  side  of  the  enclosure  and  pressed  the 
distinction  of  Persons  to  such  a  degree  that  they  had 
three  Gods  instead  of  the  mystery  of  one  God  in  three 
Persons. 


224  THE  PERSON  OF  CHRIST. 

Take,  for  another  instance,  in  like  manner  the  doc- 
trine of  the  Person  of  Christ.  The  mystery  is  that 
two  spirits,  one  divine,  the  other  human,  two  minds, 
two  wills,  are  so  united  that  without  confusion  or  change 
or  absorption  of  one  in  the  other  they  constitute  but 
one  Person.  Scrutinize  this,  and  you  can  predict  be- 
forehand all  the  possible  heresies  or  one-sided  half- 
truths,  (a)  The  Unitarian  cuts  the  knot  by  denying 
half  the  facts  of  the  case  and  leaving  out  the  divinity. 

(b)  The  Gnostics  held  that  a  man  Jesus  was  temporarily 
possessed   by  the  supernatural  iEon  or  Angel  Christ. 

(c)  The  Docetse  cut  the  knot  by  denying  the  other  half 
of  the  truth,  that  Christ  was  a  man,  holding  that  the 
reality  was  a  simple  diyinity  and  the  humanity  a  mere 
appearance,  (d)  The  Eutychians  pressed  the  unity  of 
the  Person  to  such  an  extent  that  they  confounded  the 
natures,  holding  that  the  human  was  absorbed  in  the 
divine,  (e)  The  Nestorians  went  to  the  other  extreme 
of  emphasizing  the  integrity  of  the  several  natures  after 
their  union  so  very  far  as  to  dissolve  the  unity  of  the 
Person,  and  to  set  forth  Christ  not  as  a  God-man,  but 
as  a  God  and  a  man  intimately  united.  These,  if  they 
do  not  cover,  at  least  indicate  the  direction  and  spirit  of 
all  possible  heresies  relating  to  these  two  fundamental 
doctrines  of  Christianity. 

Let  us  proceed  to  the  historical  development  of  the 
doctrine  in  the  consciousness  of  the  Church. 

I.  In  the  Council  of  Nice,  A.  d.  325,  there  were  three 
parties.  The  Arians,  led  by  Arius,  maintained  that  the 
superhuman  element  in  the  Person  of  Christ  was  hete- 
roousion,  of  a  different  substance  from  God  the  Father. 
The  Semi-Arians,  led  by  the  two  bishops  Eusebius,  held 


THE  PERSON  OF  CHRIST.  225 

that  the  superhuman  element  was  homoiousion,  of  a  like 
substance  to  that  of  the  Father.  The  Orthodox,  led  by 
Athanasius,  held  that  the  divine  nature  of  Christ  was 
homoousion,  of  identically  the  same  numerical  substance 
with  that  of  the  Father.  This  last  doctrine  was  em- 
bodied in  the  creed  of  that  council,  which,  in  the  form 
afterward  perfected  at  the  end  of  the  fourth  century,  is 
received  by  all  Christians,  Catholic  and  Protestant. 
From  this  time  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  and  that 
of  the  absolute  divinity  of  Christ  have  been  univer- 
sally held  in  the  Church. 

II.  But  fj*om  that  time  forth  men  began  to  question 
how  the  substance  of  God  could  be  united  in  one  Person 
with  the  substance  of  humanity. 

Apollinaris,  bishop  of  Laodicea,  in  all  sincerity  at- 
tempted about  a.  D.  370  to  maintain  the  truth  by  the 
following  explanation,  which  really  sacrifices  an  essen- 
tial part  of  it.  He  supposed  that  the  Scriptures  (1 
Thess.  5 :  23)  and  true  philosophy  teach  that  every 
natural  human  person  is  composed  of  three  distinct 
elements — soma,  body  ;  psyche,  soul ;  and  pneuma,  spirit 
— that  the  psyche  is  the  seat  of  the  animal  life  and  ap- 
petites and  the  emotions  and  logical  understanding,  and 
the  pneuma  is  the  seat  of  the  reason,  the  will  and  the 
moral  and  spiritual  nature.  These  three  put  in  personal 
union  make  one  complete  human  person.  He  held  that 
in  the  Person  of  Christ  the  soma  and  psyche  are  human 
and  the  pneuma  is  divine. 

But  this  view  secures  the  unity  and  simplicity  of 
Christ's  Person  at  the  expense  of  the  integrity  of  his 
humanity.  If  Christ  does  not  take  a  human  pneuma — 
that  is,   a  complete  human  nature — he  cannot   be  our 

15 


226  THE  PEESON  OF  CHRIST. 

Saviour,  our  High  Priest,  who  feels  with  us  iu  all  our 
infirmities,  haviug  been  tempted  like  us.  Indeed,  the 
view  of  Apollinaris  degrades  the  doctrine  by  maintain- 
ing that  the  eternal  Word  took  not  a  complete  human 
nature,  but  an  irrational  human  animal  into  personal 
union  with  himself. 

III.  During  the  fourth  and  early  part  of  the  fifth 
century  theological  speculation  in  the  Eastern  Church 
revolved  around  two  great  centres,  Alexandria  in  Egypt 
and  Antioch  in  Syria.  The  tendency  of  the  Alexan- 
drian school  from  Origen  to  Cyril  and  Eutychius  was 
mystical  and  theosophical.  With  this  school  the  divin- 
ity of  Christ  was  everything,  and  into  it  the  humanity 
was  represented  as  absorbed.  The  tendency  of  the 
school  of  Antioch,  whose  great  representatives  were 
Theodore  of  Mopsuestia  and  Nestorius,  patriarch  of 
Constantinople,  was  to  rationalistic  clearness — to  the 
emphasis  of  moral  duties  and  of  the  distinctness  and 
independence  of  the  human  will.  The  Alexandrian 
party  generated  Eutychianism,  which  absorbed  the 
humanity  in  the  divinity,  in  order  to  maintain  the 
unity  of  the  Person  and  absoluteness  of  the  divinity ; 
while  the  Antiochiau  party  generated  Nestorianism, 
where  the  unity  of  the  Person  is  sacrificed  to  the  sep- 
arate integrity  of  the  natures,  and  especially  of  the 
human  nature.  Nestorianism  was  condemned  by  the 
ecumenical  council  held  at  Ephesus,  a.  d.  431,  and 
Eutychianism  was  condemned  by  the  council  which 
met  in  Chalcedon,  A.  D.  451. 

IV.  In  these  decisions  the  whole  Church,  Eastern 
and  Western,  concurred.  The  advocates  of  Eutychian- 
ism endeavored  for  a  time  to  maintain,  as  a  compromise 


THE  PERSON  OF  CHRIST.  227 

position,  that  although  the  two  natures  iu  Christ  remain 
entire  and  distinct,  nevertheless  that  as  they  coalesce  in 
Christ  in  one  single  Person,  so  that  Person  can  possess 
but  one  will,  divine-human,  and  not  a  divine  and  a 
human  will  combined  in  one  personality.  This  party 
was  then  known  as  the  Monothelite,  the  one-will  party. 
After  this  heresy  was  condemned  at  the  sixth  ecumeni- 
cal council,  held  in  Constantinople  in  681,  the  contro- 
versy was  closed,  and  the  faith  of  the  Church  remained 
as  represented  by  the  old  definitions  until  the  time  of 
the  Reformation. 

V.  After  the  Reformation  the  Lutherans,  in  order  to 
establish  their  doctrine  of  the  ubiquity  of  Christ's 
human  nature  in  the  Lord's  Supper,  introduced  a  new 
view  as  to  his  Person.  The  Eutychians  taught  that 
the  humanity  of  Christ  was  absorbed  in  his  divinity. 
The  Lutherans  taught  that  his  humanity  was  exalted  to 
an  equality  with  the  divinity.  This  they  attempted  to 
explain  by  the  Communicatio  Idiomatum — i.  e.  the  com- 
munication of  attributes  from  one  nature  to  another,  or 
the  communion  of  one  nature  in  the  attributes  of  the 
other.  The  Lutherans  held  the  formula  Communicatio 
idiomatum  idriusque  natural  ad  naturam — i.  e.  the  com- 
munication of  the  attributes  of  each  nature  to  the  other 
nature.  The  Reformed  churches,  on  the  other  hand, 
admitted  that  the  attributes  of  each  nature  are  commu- 
nicated only  to  the  one  Person,  which  was  common  to 
both  natures.  The  Lutherans  thus  held  that  at  the 
moment  of  the  incarnation,  in  virtue  of  the  union  be- 
tween the  divine  and  human  natures,  the  human  nature 
of  Christ  became  omniscient,  omnipotent  and  omni- 
present. 


228  THE  PERSON  OF  CHRIST. 

This  doctrine  is  evidently  not  supported  in  Scripture 
—is  not  consistent  with  the  integrity  of  Christ's  human 
nature,  for  that  which  is  omniscient,  omnipotent  and  om- 
nipresent is  divine,  and  not  human,  and  is  plainly  incon- 
sistent with  all  the  facts  related  in  the  Gospels  as  to  our 
Lord's  earthly  life.  He  is  there  represented  in  all  re- 
spects, as  to  knowledge,  power  and  space,  as  literally 
finite  as  other  babes  aud  men. 

This  theory  originated  in  the  desire  to  lay  a  foundation 
for  their  doctrine  that  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ  are 
always  present  in,  with  and  under  the  bread  and  wine  in 
the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper.  But  it  is  evident 
that  this  foundation,  instead  of  supporting,  invalidates 
the  sacramental  presence.  If  his  body  and  blood  are 
omnipresent,  then  they  are  in,  with  and  under  all  food 
and  drink,  and  indeed  in  and  under  all  material  forms  of 
every  kind  in  all  worlds.  What  they  needed  was  not 
essential,  constant,  universal  omnipresence,  but  "  volun- 
tary multipresence ;"  that  is,  the  power  upon  Christ's 
part  of  rendering  his  body  and  blood  present  at  many 
places  at  the  same  time  at  his  own  good  pleasure. 

To  reconcile  their  doctrine  with  these  facts,  one  school 
of  Lutheran  theologians— viz.  that  of  Tubingen,  led  by 
John  Brentius— held  that  while  on  earth  the  human  na- 
ture of  Christ  was  really  omnipotent  and  omnipresent, 
only  that  he  hid  the  use  of  these  attributes  from  man, 
like  a  king  traveling  incognito.  Another  school,  that 
of  Chemnitz,  held  that  the  use  of  these  divine  attributes 
of  Christ's  humanity  was  dependent  upon  his  human  will 
— that  in  his  estate  of  humiliation  on  earth  he  voluntarily 
abstained  from  their  use. 

This  speculation  of  the  Lutherans  was  the  latest  and 


THE  PERSON  OF  CHRIST.  229 

most  elaborate  attempt  ever  made  by  theologians  to  ex- 
plain how  the  two  natures  of  Christ  can  coalesce  in  one 
person. 

VI.  The  Eutychians  held  that  the  human  nature  was 
absorbed  in  the  divine ;  the  Lutherans,  that  the  human 
nature  was  exalted  to  equality  with  the  divine ;  the  Re- 
formed held  that  the  eternal  divine  Person  humbled 
himself  to  be  united  with  humanity ;  the  advocates  of 
the  modern  German  doctrine  of  Kenosis  hold  that  the 
eternal  Word  himself  became  man — that  Christ  was  and 
is  both  God  and  man,  but  that  he  is  but  one  single  na- 
ture as  one  single  Person.  They  build  on  such  texts  as 
John  1  :  14  and  Phil.  2:7,  "  He  emptied  himself." 
Kenosis  means  the  act  of  emptying  or  the  state  of  being 
emptied.  They  start  with  the  orthodox  doctrine  that 
the  Person  of  the  Word,  or  Son,  is  eternally  generated 
of  his  own  substance  by  the  Father.  This  generation 
makes  the  Son  partaker  of  all  the  fullness  of  the  divine 
nature,  and  is,  they  say,  dependent  upon  the  will  of  the 
Son,  his  voluntary  act  conspiring  with  the  act  of  the  Fa- 
ther. At  the  incarnation  the  eternal  Son,  of  his  volun- 
tary act,  emptied  his  person  of  the  divine  fullness,  and 
became  an  unconscious  human  germ  in  the  womb  of  the 
Virgin.  From  that  point,  and  under  the  ordinary  con- 
ditions of  human  birth  and  life,  this  divine  germ  devel- 
oped through  all  the  stages  of  human  experience — infan- 
tine, youthful  and  mature.  After  his  death  and  resur- 
rection this  same  nature,  the  self-emptied  Word,  the 
divine  germ,  developed  as  a  man,  again  expands  into 
infinity  and  fills  all  things  as  God.  His  nature  hence 
is  one,  because  from  first  to  last  it  is  the  divine  substance 
communicated  by  the  Father  to  the  Son,  who  in  turn 


230  THE  PERSON  OF  CHRIST. 

voluntarily  empties  himself  of  all  except  the  merest 
point  of  existence,  which  after  his  glorification  expands 
again  into  infinity.  He  is  one  Person  because  he  is 
one  single  nature.  He  is  from  first  to  last  God  as  to 
substance,  but  he  has  become,  by  passing  through  the 
womb  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  man  as  to  form.  Thus  he 
ever  continues  God  in  the  form  of  man, — always  God, 
because  he  subsists  of  the  one  eternal,  self-existent  Sub- 
stance ;  always  man,  because  retaining  the  human  form 
and  experience  acquired  on  earth. 

This,  confessedly,  rests  upon  the  assumption  that  the 
divine  nature  is  capable  of  taking  upon  itself  humanity, 
and  that  the  human  nature  is  capable  of  receiving  the 
properties  of  divinity.  Hence  it  is  evidently  of  a  pure 
pantheistic  descent.  God  is  immutable,  incapable  of  be- 
coming unconscious  and  of  passing  through  the  limita- 
tions of  the  finite.  To  be  man  is  to  be  finite  and  de- 
pendent. To  be  God  is  to  be  infinite  and  self-existent. 
Christ  was  both  at  the  same  time,  because  his  Person 
embraced  two  distinct  natures,  the  divine  and  the  human. 

VII.  The  common  doctrine  of  the  Church,  then,  is  as 
follows : 

I.  As  to  the  incarnation. 

1.  Substance  is  that  which  has  objective  existence, 
permanence  and  power.  Attributes  are  the  active  powers 
of  their  respective  substances,  and  are  inseparable  from 
them.  Only  a  divine  substance  can  have  divine  attributes. 
Only  a  human  substance  can  have  human  attributes.  In 
the  Godhead  the  one  infinite  divine  Substance  eternally 
exists  in  the  form  of  three  equal  Persons. 

2.  In  the  incarnation  the  second  Person  of  this  Trinity 
established  a  personal  union  between  itself  and  a  human 


THE  PERSON  OF  CHRIST.  231 

soul  and  body.  These  substances  remain  distinct,  and 
their  properties  or  active  powers  are  inseparable  from 
each  substance  respectively. 

3.  The  union  between  them  is  not  mechanical,  as  that 
between  oxygen  and  nitrogen  in  our  air ;  neither  is  it 
chemical,  as  that  between  oxygen  and  hydrogen  when 
water  is  formed ;  neither  is  it  organic,  as  that  subsisting 
between  our  hearts  and  our  brains ;  but  it  is  a  union 
more  intimate,  more  profound  and  more  mysterious  than 
any  of  these.  It  is  personal.  If  we  cannot  understand 
the  nature  of  the  simpler  unions,  why  should  we  com- 
plain because  we  cannot  understand  the  nature  of  the 
most  profound  of  all  unions  ? 

II.  As  to  the  effects  of  the  incarnation. 

1.  The  attributes  of  both  natures  belong  to  the  one 
Person,  which  includes  both. 

2.  The  acts  of  both  natures  are  the  acts  of  the  one 
Person. 

3.  The  human  nature  is  greatly  exalted,  and  shares 
in  the  love,  adoration  and  glory  of  the  divine  nature. 
It  all  belongs  to  the  one  Person. 

4.  The  human  attributes  of  our  Redeemer  are  the 
organ  of  his  divine  Person,  and  are  through  the  divinity 
rendered  virtually  inexhaustible  and  ubiquitously  avail- 
able for  us.  When  you  put  your  babe  to  bed  and  leave 
him  to  go  your  own  way  to  a  distant  place  you  say, 
"  Love,  fear  not ;  Jesus  will  be  with  you  while  I  am 
gone."  You  know  Jesus  will  be  with  you  also  at  the 
same  time,  and  with  all  believers.  By  this  you  do  not 
mean  simply  that  Christ's  divinity  will  be  with  you  and 
the  babe.  You  mean  that  the  Person  who  is  very  man 
as  well  as  very  God  will  be  with  you  both.     You  want 


232  THE  PERSON  OF  CHRIST. 

his  human  love  and  sympathy  as  well  as  his  divine  be- 
nevolence. If  he  were  a  mere  man,  he  could  be  only  at 
one  place  at  one  time,  and  his  attention  and  sympathy 
would  soon  be  overwhelmed  by  our  demands.  But  he  is 
at  once  God  and  man,  and  as  such,  in  the  wholeness  and 
fullness  of  both  natures,  he  is  inexhaustible  and  accessible 
by  all  believers  in  heaven  and  on  earth  at  once  and  for 
ever. 

The  best  illustration  of  this  mystery  is  afforded  by  the 
union  of  soul  and  body  in  the  unity  of  our  own  persons. 
The  body  is  matter,  the  soul  is  spirit.  Matter  and  spir- 
it are  incompatible,  as  far  as  we  understand  as  incom- 
patible as  divinity  and  humanity.  Matter  is  inert,  ex- 
tended and  the  vehicle  of  force.  Spirit  is  spontaneous, 
inextended  and  the  generator  of  force.  Yet  they  form 
in  us,  under  certain  circumstances,  one  person.  This  is 
the  person  of  the  soul,  not  of  the  body,  as  shown  before. 
The  soul  by  this  union  is  virtually  confined  to  and  ex- 
tended in  space,  for  wherever  the  body  is,  there  the  soul 
lives  and  feels  through  their  union.  The  body,  which  is 
of  itself  inert  and  dead,  is  through  its  union  with  the 
soul  palpitating  with  life,  throbbing  with  feelings  and 
instinct  with  energy. 

Every  act  of  each  nature  is  also  the  act  of  the  one 
person,  and  both  natures  concur  in  our  actions,  organic 
and  voluntary.  Even  digestion  is  possible  to  the  body 
only  through  the  indwelling  of  the  soul.  But  in  all  our 
higher  actions,  when  the  orator  speaks  or  when  the 
singer  pours  forth  his  soul  in  melody,  both  soul  and 
body  penetrating  each  other,  yet  distinct,  constituting  one 
person,  yet  unconfused, — both  soul  and  body  act  together 
inseparably.     As  human  voice  and  instrument  blend  in 


THE  PERSON  OF  CHRIST.  233 

one  harmony,  as  human  soul  and  body  blend  in  each 
act  of  feeling,  thought  or  speech,  so,  as  far  as  we  can 
know,  divinity  and  humanity  act  together  in  the  thought 
and  heart  and  act  of  the  one  Christ. 

I  adore  a  Christ  who  is  absolutely  one,  who  is  at  the 
same  time  pure,  unmixed,  unchanged  God,  and  pure,  un- 
mixed, unchanged  man,  and  whose  Person  in  its  whole- 
ness and  its  fullness  is  available  throughout  all  space  and 
throughout  all  time  to  those  who  trust  him  and  love  his 
appearing. 


LECTURE  XI. 

THE  OFFICES  OF  CHRIST. 

His  Offices  of  Prophet  and  of  Priest. 

I  am  to  open  this  afternoon  the  great  subject  of  the 
Offices  of  Christ.  In  the  last  Lecture  we  discussed  the 
great  mystery  of  his  Person  as  God  and  man  in  two 
distinct  natures  and  oue  Person  for  ever.  These  three, 
Christ's  Person,  his  Office  and  his  Work,  are  absolutely 
inseparable.  One  of  them  cannot  be  understood  as  sepa- 
rated from  the  other  two.  He  assumed  humanity  and 
became  God  and  man  in  one  Person  in  order  that  he 
might  assume  his  office  as  Mediator  between  the  holy 
God  and  sinful  man,  and  his  office  and  work  are  alike 
inconceivable  except  when  viewed  in  connection  with  the 
unparalleled  constitution  and  comprehensive  range  of  his 
Person. 

I.  The  office  of  Christ  as  Mediator  is  obviously  one. 
He  occupies  the  whole  of  it  at  the  same  time.  He  dis- 
charges exhaustively  all  the  parts  of  it.  All  its  parts 
have  one  end,  and  are  mutually  interdependent.  The 
English  word  "  office  "  unfortunately  has  come  to  have 
two  meanings.  In  ordinary  usage  it  stands  for  a  con- 
crete whole,  a  man  occupying  a  position  defined  by  law, 
involving  many  correlated  functions,  as  the  office  of 
judge  or  of  governor  or  of  president.     But,  neverthe- 

234 


THE  OFFICES  OF  CHRIST.  235 

less,  it  continues  to  be  used  in  its  ancient  classical  mean- 
ing of  function  or  duty,  the  exercise  of  which  is  involved 
iu  the  office.  This  distinction  is  well  marked  by  the 
Latin  words  munus  and  officium.  The  munus  expresses 
the  position  defined  by  law,  involving  a  destination  and 
obligation  to  the  accomplishment  of  a  certain  work. 
Officium,  on  the  other  hand,  expresses  the  idea  of  func- 
tion. Thus,  Christ  undertook  but  one  munus  or  office, 
that  of  Mediator  between  God  and  man,  in  order  to  se- 
cure the  salvation  of  his  elect.  But  in  doing  this  he 
necessarily  discharges  all  the  officio,  or  functions  which 
the  work  necessarily  involves.  The  munus  or  office  of 
Mediator  involves  all  the  three  functions  of  the  prophet, 
of  the  priest  and  of  the  king.  These  are  not  separate 
offices,  as  are  those  of  president,  chief-justice  and  sena- 
tor, but  they  are  the  several  functions  of  the  one  office 
of  Mediator.  They  are  not  separate  functions  capable 
of  successive  and  isolated  performance.  They  are  rather 
like  the  several  functions  of  the  one  living  human  body 
— as  of  the  lungs  in  inhalation,  as  of  the  heart  in  blood- 
circulation,  and  as  of  the  brain  and  spinal  column  in  in- 
nervation ;  they  are  functionally  distinct,  yet  interdepend- 
ent, and  together  they  constitute  one  life.  So  the  func- 
tions of  prophet,  priest  and  king  mutually  imply  one 
another :  Christ  is  always  a  prophetical  Priest  and  a 
priestly  Prophet,  and  he  is  always  a  royal  Priest  and 
a  priestly  King,  and  together  they  accomplish  one  re- 
demption, to  which  all  are  equally  essential. 

All  these  functions,  moreover,  equally  involve  the 
possession  and  exercise  by  Christ  of  the  attributes  of 
both  his  divine  and  his  human  natures.  It  was  neces- 
sary that  he  should  be  God  in  order  that  he  should  be 


236  THE  OFFICES  OF  CHRIST. 

the  original  Prophet  of  prophets  and  Teacher  of  teachers 
of  the  secrets  of  the  divine  will ;  that  he  should  as  Priest 
and  Sacrifice  render  an  obedience  in  the  stead  of  men 
which  he  did  not  owe  for  himself,  and  render  by  his  vi- 
carious sufferings  a  satisfaction  to  the  justice  of  God  of 
expiatory  value  equal  to  the  sufferings  of  all  men  to  all 
eternity ;  and  that  as  King  he  should  reign  in  the  hearts 
and  over  the  lives  and  destinies  of  all  his  people.  It 
was  no  less  necessary  that  he  should  be  man  in  order 
that  he  should  take  man's  place  and  obey  and  suffer  in 
man's  stead,  and  that  he  should  become  "a  merciful  and 
faithful  High  Priest  in  things  pertaining  to  God,  to 
make  reconciliation  for  the  sins  of  the  people ;"  so  that 
he  himself,  having  suffered,  being  tempted,  "  is  able  to 
succor  them  that  are  tempted"  (Heb.  2  :  17,  18). 

II.  This  office  or  munus,  having  for  its  end  the  com- 
plete salvation  of  sinful  men,  is  designated  in  the  New 
Testament  by  two  comprehensive  titles :  (1)  Mzairr^, 
Mediator.  This  is  applied  in  a  lower  sense  to  Moses,  as 
a  mere  messenger  or  go-between,  through  whom  the  law 
was  given  to  the  Church  from  Sinai  (Gal.  3:19,  20). 
But  it  is  applied  in  the  highest  sense  to  Christ,  as  the 
efficient  Peacemaker,  the  Daysman,  having  full  power  to 
make  the  peace  between  God  and  man,  and  to  deliver 
man  efficaciously  and  with  infallible  certainty  from  all 
his  dangers  (1  Tim.  2  :  5,  6).  (2)  The  second  and  more 
comprehensive  title  applied  in  Scripture  to  this  great  un- 
dertaking of  Christ  is  napdxXrjTO*,  Paraclete.  The  word 
paraclete  is  the  Greek  equivalent  for  the  Latin  advocatus, 
advocate.  The  words  ad-vocate  and  xapd-xfyroz  mean 
one  called  in  to  help.  The  Roman  "client,"  the  poor 
and  dependent  man,  called  in  his  "  patron  "  to  help  him 


THE  OFFICES  OF  CHRIST.  237 

in  all  his  needs.  The  patron  thought  for,  advised, 
directed,  supported,  defended,  supplied  the  necessities 
of,  restored,  comforted  his  client  in  all  his  compli- 
cations. 

The  client,  however  weak,  with  a  powerful  patron  was 
socially  and  politically  secure  for  ever.  We  are  lost,  we 
have  nothing,  and  we  need  everything.  We  are  guilty, 
righteously  condemned,  held  under  sentence.  We  are 
ignorant,  blind,  weak,  helpless.  Christ  undertakes  for 
us  just  as  we  are,  and  he  does  everything  for  us  as  our 
Advocate  or  Paraclete,  called  in  to  help  us  and  deliver 
us.  If  any  man  sin,  he  has  a  Paraclete  with  the  Father, 
Jesus  Christ  the  righteous  (1  John  2  : 1).  But  even 
Christ  cannot  do  the  whole  work  alone.  So  when  the 
Saviour,  having  finished  his  earthly  work,  was  ready  to 
depart,  he  said  to  his  disciples,  "  I  will  pray  the  Father, 
and  he  shall  give  you  another  Trapdxtyroq  (Paraclete, 
Advocate,  unhappily  translated  Comforter),  that  he  may 
abide  with  you  for  ever,  even  the  Spirit  of  truth  "  (John 
14  :  16,  26  ;  15  :  26  ;  16  :  7).  In  this  munus  or  office  of 
saving  men  the  incarnate  God-man  and  the  Holy  Ghost 
work  together,  the  function  of  one  being  as  essential  as 
that  of  the  other,  and  mutually  depending  upon  that  of 
the  other.  The  God-man  is  our  Patron,  who  undertakes 
for  us  in  the  functions  of  teaching,  redeeming  and  ruling. 
The  Holy  Ghost  is  our  other  or  co-ordinate  Paraclete  or 
Advocate,  who  unites  us  to  Christ  by  dwelling  in  us, 
communicating  his  life  to  us,  and  executing  in  us  all 
the  beneficial  and  sacrificially  merited  stages  and  ele- 
ments of  Christ's  salvation.  The  two  are  tog-ether  our 
perfect  Paraclete.  The  one  is  our  objective,  external, 
transcendent  Paraclete,  sitting  in,  and  reigning  from, 


238  THE  OFFICES  OF  CHRIST. 

the  heavens;  the  other  is  our  subjective,  internal,  im- 
manent Paraclete,  dwelling  in  us  and  inspiring  in  us  a 
divine  life  and  hope. 

The  essential  parts  of  our  salvation  are  regeneration, 
justification,  sanctification,  resurrection,  glorification. 
These  obviously  involve,  upon  the  part  of  the  two  di- 
vine Persons  who  together  have  undertaken  the  munus 
of  our  salvation,  the  distinct  offices  or  functions  of  mak- 
ing reconciliation  by  atonement,  of  intercession  and  in- 
troduction to  the  Father,  of  teaching,  of  reigning  over 
and  disciplining  the  individual  and  the  community  of 
which  he  forms  a  part,  and  finally  of  quickening  to  life 
and  communicating  to  the  regenerate  sinner  his  part  in 
the  benefits  of  Christ's  work,  and  preserving  and  per- 
fecting him  therein.  These  are  distributed  under  the 
heads  of  the  threefold  functions  of  Christ  as  Prophet,  as 
Priest  and  as  King,  and  of  the  functions  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  the  immanent  Paraclete  ever  dwelling  in  the 
hearts  of  his  people. 

III.  The  Function  or  Office  of  Christ  as  Prophet. — A 
prophet  is  one  who  speaks  for  another.  In  religious 
concerns  a  prophet  is  one  who  speaks  to  men  for  God. 
Hence  he  must  be  for  this  purpose  a  seer,  one  who  sees, 
and  therefore  knows,  and  hence  is  qualified  to  speak  in 
God's  name.  The  absolutely  necessary  qualifications  for 
the  office  are  competent  information,  adequate  powers  of 
expression  and  unquestionable  authority. 

Every  human  prophet  necessarily  presupposes  an  in- 
finite, eternal,  divine  Prophet  from  whom  his  knowledge 
is  received,  just  as  every  stream  presupposes  a  fountain 
from  which  it  flows.  As  there  must  be  a  first  mover  in 
all  movement  and  a  first  cause  in  all  efficient  causation, 


THE  OFFICES  OF  CHRIST.  239 

so  there  must  be  a  first  Teacher  of  all  teachers  and  a  su- 
preme Lord  of  all  lords. 

Father,  Son  and  Holy  Ghost  are  equal  in  knowledge 
as  well  as  in  power  and  glory — equal,  i.  e.}  both  in  the 
sense  of  originality  and  of  universal  comprehension. 
All  things  involved  in  the  divine  Being;  all  things  spon- 
taneously emergent  in  the  divine  imagination ;  all  things 
embraced  in  the  divine  purpose ;  all  things  that  have 
been  or  shall  be  actually  existent  in  the  past,  present  or 
future, — are  all  in  their  inmost  essences,  as  well  as  in 
their  phenomena,  present  within  the  universal  sweep  of 
the  intuitional  consciousness  of  God  for  ever.  But  it  is 
the  function  of  the  second  Person  in  the  constitutional 
economy  of  the  Trinity  to  communicate  objectively  any 
portion  of  this  divine  knowledge  to  his  intelligent  creat- 
ures. He  is  the  eternal  Word  of  God.  He,  as  to  his 
divine  nature,  is  the  express  image  of  the  Godhead, 
otherwise  invisible,  and  he  is  the  radiant  glory  of  the 
divine  essence.  No  man  hath  seen  God  at  any  time 
save  the  Son  and  he  to  whom  the  Son  reveals  him.  He 
that  hath  seen  Christ,  the  incarnate  Word,  hath  seen  the 
Father.  He  is  at  once  the  Word  in  God,  for  eternally 
the  Word  was  with  God,  and  he  is  the  Word  from  God, 
exhibiting  the  glories  of  God  in  the  whole  range  of  cre- 
ations, providences  and  objective  revelations.  All  the 
lights  of  nature,  the  broken  fragments  of  tradition,  the 
secrets  of  the  ethnic  temples,  the  wisdom  of  the  schools, 
the  crescent  moons  of  philosophy,  science  and  the  arts, 
the  broader  daylight  of  modern  civilization, — all  these, 
and  far  more  than  these,  the  brightest  constellations  of 
supernatural  revelation,  the  rising  sun  of  the  inspired 
Scriptures  from  the  first  dawn  growing  brighter  and 


240  THE  OFFICES  OF  CHRIST. 

brighter  to  the  perfect  day,  and  the  unparalleled  radiance 
of  the  celestial  throne  within  the  circle  of  which  the 
archangels  stand, — all  these  are  but  the  reflections  of 
His  inexhaustible  light  whose  function  it  is  to  make 
manifest  the  otherwise  hidden  light  of  God. 

But  as  in  all  vision  there  must  meet  at  once  the  com- 
plementary gifts  of  light  and  eyes — light  the  instrument 
and  medium,  eyes  the  organs — so  in  this  communication 
of  the  light  of  God  to  his  creatures  the  complementary 
functions  of  Christ  radiating  the  light  and  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  opening  the  intellectual  and  spiritual  eyes  must 
meet  together.  And  especially  in  the  case  of  fallen  men, 
where  this  spiritual  vision  has  been  lost,  the  subjective 
eye-opening  work  of  the  Spirit  is  the  more  necessary. 
And  these  two  have  been  working  together  in  this  pro- 
phetical function  of  the  work  of  human  redemption  from 
the  first.  Abraham  saw  the  day  of  Christ,  and  all  the 
prophets  spoke  of  him.  The  priesthoods  of  Aaron  and 
of  Melchizedek,  the  temple  service  in  all  its  parts,  were 
shadows  of  which  his  Person  and  work  were  the  sub- 
stance. The  Spirit  of  Christ  testified  within  all  these 
holy  prophets,  and  inspired  their  words  and  generated 
their  religious  experience,  which  in  their  immortal  psalms 
have  become  normal  to  the  Christians  of  all  times.  After 
his  incarnation  Christ's  human  nature  became  the  most 
effective  organ  through  which  his  teaching  function  was 
wrought  out.  His  all-perfect  human  life,  standing  alone, 
the  conspicuous  anomaly  of  all  history,  is  the  transcend- 
ent lesson  he  has  taught  us — a  lesson,  alike  as  to  the  na- 
ture and  prerogatives  of  God,  and  as  to  the  possibilities 
and  responsibilities  of  man,  which  after  the  lapse  of 
nearly  two  millenniums  remains  the  acknowledged  les- 


THE  OFFICES  OF  CHRIST.  241 

son  of  all  the  ages,  acknowledged  as  well  by  foe  as  friend. 
Iu  the  appointed  testimony  of  the  twelve  apostles,  in  the 
inspired  text  of  the  New  Testament,  in  the  special  dis- 
pensation of  grace  which  has  led  his  Church  forth  through 
all  the  changes  of  two  thousand  years,  in  his  general 
providence  comprehending  the  evolution  of  all  nations, 
in  the  ceaseless,  everywhere  active  operations  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  in  our  hearts,  in  the  new  light  breaking  in  upon 
each  wondering  soul  at  death,  and  in  the  revelation  of 
unutterable  things  in  the  third  heavens  of  which  Paul 
had  a  transient  glimpse  which  it  is  not  lawful  for  a  man 
on  earth  to  utter,— Christ  has  been  fulfilling  the  teach- 
ing function  of  his  great  work  as  Redeemer.  And 
throughout  all  the  eternal  ages  he  will  never  cease.  In 
the  New  Jerusalem,  the  city  of  gold  and  crystal,  wherein 
the  unending  career  of  God's  perfected  sons  shall  be 
continuously  run,  he  will  still  continue  the  inexhaustible 
Source  of  all  their  knowing.  For  for  ever  and  for  ever 
"  the  Lamb  is  the  light  thereof." 

Even  in  this  life  this  precious  office  of  Christ  in  be- 
half of  his  people  surpasses  all  estimate.  It  is  to  be 
feared  that  while  taking  refuge  under  our  Lord's  medi- 
ation as  Priest,  Christians  now-a-days  make  far  too  little 
of  his  function  in  them  as  Prophet.  The  condition  of 
our  experiencing  the  full  measure  of  this  benefit  is,  that 
we  should  implicitly  submit  our  whole  intellects  to  him 
as  our  Teacher,  that  we  follow  him  without  question 
in  our  thinking  as  much  as  in  our  acting;  that  the 
entire  encyclopaedia  of  human  knowledge  be  brought 
under  the  regimen  of  his  teaching ;  and  that  his  doc- 
trine in  every  department  of  thought  be  central  and 
regulative  to  all  other  truth.     On    this  condition,  and 

16 


242  THE  OFFICES  OF  CHRIST. 

on  this  condition  only,  he  will  grant  us  that  unction 
from  the  Holy  One  whereby  we  shall  know  all  things 
(1  John  2  :  20).  Spiritual-mindedness  is  the  crowning 
grace  of  a  Christian  character,  and  is  the  unquestionable 
evidence  of  the  presence  of  eternal  life.  A  new  and  celes- 
tial light  is  let  in  broadly  over  the  whole  horizon  of  our 
thought.  The  entire  rational  world  is  transfigured. 
Even  in  the  case  of  some  of  the  intellectually  least 
highly  endowed  of  Christ's  people  the  telescope  of  faith 
reveals  the  deepest  and  most  ravishing  secrets  of  his 
kingdom.  Just  as  in  the  material  astronomy  the  tele- 
scope of  highest  power  takes  into  its  field  the  narrowest 
segment  of  the  sky,  so  in  the  disclosures  our  divine 
Prophet  makes  to  his  redeemed  on  earth  often  the  in- 
tensest  insight  into  the  glowing  centre  of  the  heavenly 
world  is  vouchsafed  to  those  whom  the  world  regards 
pitifully  as  the  unlearned  and  foolish,  and  whom  even 
the  Church  recognizes  as  only  babes  in  Christ. 

IV.  The  Office  of  Christ  as  Priest. — The  unity  of  the 
human  race  and  the  universal  sense  of  sin  are  proved  by 
the  fact  that  in  all  ages  and  nations  all  historical  religions 
provide  a  priesthood  to  stand  between  God  and  his  wor- 
shiper. A  priest  is  a  man  divinely  chosen,  qualified  and 
authorized  to  appear  before  God  and  to  act  in  behalf  of 
men.  A  prophet,  we  have  seen,  comes  down  from  God 
manward.  A  priest  goes  up  from  man  Godward.  Bishop 
Butler  (Analogy,  pt.  ii.  ch.  5)  and  Michaelis  declare  that 
the  universal  prevalence  of  priests  and  piacular  sacrifices 
demonstrates  the  existence  of  a  sensus  communis  essential 
to  human  nature  as  it  now  is,  establishing  the  facts  of 
human  guilt,  of  divine  justice,  and  of  the  absolute  need 
of  mediation  and  expiation.     The  entire  state  of  the  case 


TEE  OFFICES  OF  CHRIST.  243 

stands  pictured  to  us  in  the  Jewish  ritual  with  the  utmost 
vividness   as   in   a   vast   historical    object-lesson.     God 
created  man  in  his  own  likeness;  a  weak  creature,  but 
with  the  potency  of  the  highest  powers,  with  the  possi- 
bilities of  the  grandest  destinies,  and  consequently  the 
responsibility  of  maintaining  a  record  and  of  achieving 
a  character  in  conformity  to  the  law  of  absolute  moral 
perfection,  armed  with  the  alternative  sanctions  of  the 
blessing   of  God  which   is   life,  or   the  curse   of  God 
which  is   death.     Man,  abusing   all   the  conditions  of 
a  favorable  probation,  sinned,  and  fell    under  the  in- 
exorable  condemnation   of  the    immutable   law   which 
sways  the  moral  universe  in  all  cycles  and  in  all  realms. 
The  judgment  of  this  law  was  immediately  and  consist- 
ently executed  upon  the  entire  existent  human  race,  in- 
wardly in  the  conscience  of  man  and  outwardly  in  the 
providence  of  God.     Ashamed,  conscious  of  his  defile- 
ment and  nakedness,  afraid,  conscious  of  his  guilt  and 
alienation  from  God,  man  was  driven  out  of  the  garden 
to  wrestle  with  the  wild  forces  of  nature  for  a  living, 
under  the  frown  of  God.     Death  and  pain  seized  him' 
and  the  farther  he  wandered  through  the  continents  and 
down  the  ages,  the  farther  he  went  from  God,  the  more 
corrupt  his  nature  and  hopeless  his  condition.    All  alono- 
this  line  the  Spirit  of  God  strove  with  men,  and  under 
his  inspiration  men  chose  their  bes.t  and  wisest  and  sent 
them  up  to  God  as  priests,  with  gifts  and  the  blood  of 
atoning  sacrifices  in  their  hands,  if  by  any  means  per- 
adventure  God's  justice  could  be  satisfied  and  his  just 
wrath  appeased. 

All   this   ritual  of  mediation  and   of  expiation  was 
gathered  together  into  one  divinely-ordered  system  in 


244  THE  OFFICES  OF  CHRIST. 

the  Mosaic  tabernacle  and  ceremonial  institution  made 
in  all  things  according  to  the  pattern  God  showed  to 
Moses  in  the  mount  (Heb.  8  :  5).  All  members  of  the 
human  family,  as  such,  were  judicially  excluded  from 
the  divine  favor  and  presence.  But  as  God  graciously 
purposed  to  redeem  men  and  restore  them  to  life  in  union 
with  himself  on  certain  conditions,  he  forthwith  graciously 
selected  the  Israelites  out  of  all  the  nations  of  the  earth, 
and  made  them,  in  behalf  of  all  nations,  a  priestly  nation 
to  represent  all  nations  before  God,  and  ultimately  to  be 
the  organ  of  the  reconciliation  and  restoration  of  all.  Out 
of  the  nation  of  priests  he  chose  the  tribe  of  Levi  to  be 
a  priestly  tribe,  to  represent  the  whole  nation  before  God 
and  to  act  as  the  organ  of  its  communion  with  God.  Out 
of  the  tribe  of  Levi  he  chose  the  family  of  Aaron  to  be 
in  the  strictest  sense  the  priestly  order  in  successive  gen- 
erations, and  of  this  family  of  priests  the  head  by  the  law 
of  primogeniture  was  the  one  high  priest,  in  whom  the 
whole  body  of  priests,  and  through  them  the  whole  tribe 
and  nation,  and  through  them  all  the  families  of  man  on 
earth,  are  ceremonially  summed  up — who  is  the  one  ab- 
solute priest,  the  one  adequate  type  of  Christ,  able  to  per- 
form in  his  own  person  every  part  of  the  typical  service. 
According  to  this  symbolism,  God,  although  he  is  om- 
nipresent and  everywhere  active  in  his  natural  relation, 
yet  as  Moral  Governor  and  Source  of  spiritual  life  is 
withdrawn  from  the  world  and  sits  apart.  But  to  give 
visible  objective  expression  to  his  willingness  to  have 
men  brought  back  to  his  favor  and  fellowship,  he  directed 
Moses  to  erect  a  tabernacle,  afterward  rendered  perma- 
nent in  the  magnificent  temple  of  Solomon — a  place  of 
meeting  and  communing  between  God  and  man  (Ex.  25 : 


THE  OFFICES  OF  CHRIST.  245 

22).  This  sanctuary  was  essentially  a  large  parallelo- 
gram embracing  three  successive  courts.  The  inner  one 
of  all,  called  the  Most  Holy  Place,  was  entirely  enclosed, 
shut  in  darkness,  a  perfect  cube.  Here  God  sat  alone 
enthroned  over  the  ark  of  the  covenant,  the  foundation 
of  his  throne,  containing  the  moral  law  expressed  in  the 
ten  commandments,  which  were  at  once  the  foundation 
of  his  own  government  and  his  official  indictment  of  all 
men  as  condemned  sinners,  and  enthroned  between  the 
cherubim,  or  symbols  of  redeemed  humanity  as  it  will 
be  in  the  end,  when  the  true  heaveuly  temple  is  consum- 
mated. This  most  holy  seat  of  God  holding  aloof,  yet 
willing  to  meet  men  on  conditions  consistent  with  his 
perfections,  was  separated  from  the  next  court  by  a  close 
curtain,  which  none  but  the  high  priest,  and  he  only 
once  a  year,  could  lift.  Exterior  to  this  was  the  Holy 
Place,  which  contained  the  table  of  shewbread,  the  gold- 
en candlestick  and  the  altar  of  incense,  all  symbolizing 
the  Christian  life  redeemed,  sanctified  and  offered  as  an 
acceptable  sacrifice  to  God.  Exterior  to  this  was  the 
outer  court,  sacred  to  the  Jews  or  to  the  priestly  nation, 
from  which  the  uncircumcised  Gentiles  were  excluded. 
A  believing  Israelite,  conscious  of  sin,  proposing  to  re- 
turn to  God  and  seek  eternal  life  in  him,  had  his  way  of 
return  distinctly  marked  out.  He  must  come  first  to  the 
altar  of  burnt-offering  and  make  expiation,  and  then  to 
the  laver  of  regeneration  and  seek  spiritual  cleansing, 
and  then  approach  through  the  Holy  Place  to  the  veil 
which  divided  it  from  the  immediate  presence  of  God. 
On  every  occasion  of  sin  he  was  directed  to  obtain  a 
lamb  perfect  in  age,  sex  and  condition ;  take  it  to  the 
priest  before  the  altar ;  lay  his  hands  upon  its  head,  sig- 


2i6  THE  OFFICES  OF  CHRIST. 

nifying  the  transference  to  it  of  his  guilt  or  obligation  to 
endure  the  penalty ;  give  it  to  the  priest,  who  then  exe- 
cuted upon  it,  in  the  stead  of  the  sinner  who  presented  it 
as  his  substitute,  the  capital  penalty  of  death.  Then  the 
blood  of  the  victim  was  sprinkled  upon  the  sinner  and 
upon  the  horns  of  the  altar,  in  token  of  the  expiation  of 
sin  upon  the  one  hand  and  the  propitiation  of  God  upon 
the  other.  The  promised  effect  of  this  service  was,  as  is 
constantly  asserted  (Lev.  4  :  20;  5  :  10,  13,  16,  18,  etc.), 
that  "  his  sin  shall  be  forgiven  him." 

On  the  great  day  of  atonement,  once  every  year,  this 
priestly  work  was  done,  so  as  to  exhibit  the  principle 
most  perfectly.  The  high  priest  was  the  one  whose 
office  included  and  superseded  that  of  all  other  priests. 
He  represented  the  whole  redeemed  Church,  the  entire 
body  of  the  elect,  bearing  the  titles  of  all  the  tribes  en- 
graved upon  his  shoulders  and  upon  his  breast.  He 
took  two  goats  ceremonially  perfect — two,  yet  constituting 
one  sacrifice,  to  symbolize  the  entire  function  alike  after 
and  before  death.  On  the  head  of  the  one  goat  he  laid 
his  hands  and  confessed  all  the  sins  of  the  whole  people. 
The  other  goat  he  executed  and  sacrificed  on  the  altar  of 
burnt-offering.  The  first  goat  was  then  sent  forth  into 
the  trackless  wilderness  bearing  into  absolute  and  final 
oblivion  the  sins  of  the  people,  now  expiated  by  the  vi- 
carious death  of  the  other  goat.  With  the  blood  of  the 
second  goat  and  with  a  censer  kindled  with  coals  from  off 
the  altar  of  incense  the  high  priest  now  passed  through 
the  otherwise  inviolable  curtain  into  the  presence  of  God 
enthroned  over  the  mercy-seat  between  the  cherubim. 
This  blood  was  now  spread  over  the  golden  lid  covering 
the  ark  of  the  covenant,  shutting  out  the  vision  of  God 


THE  OFFICES  OF  CHRIST.  247 

looking  down  upon  the  tables  of  the  law,  witnessing 
against  the  sins  of  men.  David  hence  sings  of  the 
blessedness  of  him  "whose  transgressions  are  forgiven, 
whose  sins  are  covered  " — i.  e.  covered  out  of  the  sight 
of  justice  by  sacrificial  blood. 

The  high  priest  represented  the  people.  What  he  did, 
they  did  in  him.  And  he,  and  they  through  him,  could 
at  best  pass  that  veil  but  once  a  year,  and  then  only  with 
the  fresh  blood  of  the  goat  judicially  slain  in  their  stead. 
This  was  because  God  is  just,  aud  without  the  shedding 
of  blood  there  is  absolutely  no  remission.  The  restric- 
tions which  limited  it  to  the  one  day  in  a  year  and  to  the 
freshly-repeated  sacrifice  originated  in  the  incompetency 
of  the  blood  of  bulls  and  goats  really  to  expiate  the 
guilt  of  sin.  The  sacrifices  of  bulls  and  goats  were  like 
token-money  (as  our  paper  promises  to  pay),  accepted  at 
their  face  value  until  the  day  of  settlement.  But  the 
sacrifice  of  Christ  was  the  gold  which  absolutely  extin- 
guishes all  debt  by  its  intrinsic  value.  When,  therefore, 
Christ  by  the  one  sacrifice  of  his  divine-human  Person 
had  put  away  sin  (Heb.  9  :  26 ;  10  :  10-12),  the  veil 
which  shut  off  the  Most  Holy  Place,  the  dwelling-place 
of  God  in  the  temple,  "  was  rent  from  the  top  to  the 
bottom  " — that  is,  utterly  and  for  ever  removed  (Matt. 
27  :  51),  so  that  not  high  priests  only,  but  every  trusting 
Christian  fleeing  from  sin  and  the  wrath  which  follows 
it,  has  boldness  to  enter,  not  once  a  year,  but  in  every 
instant  of  need,  "  into  the  holiest  by  the  blood  of  Jesus, 
by  a  new  and  living  way,  which  he  hath  consecrated  for 
us,  through  the  veil,  that  is  to  say,  his  flesh "  (Heb. 
10:20). 

The  entire  religious  life  of  the  Jewish  Church  and  of 


248  THE  OFFICES  OF  CHRIST. 

every  individual  believer  centred  in  the  priests,  aud  pre- 
eminently in  the  high  priest.  He  was  the  head  of  the 
nation  and  of  the  Church.  He  was  the  ever-living 
organ  of  their  living  union  and  fellowship  with  God. 
Cut  off  from  the  high  priest,  they  were  without  God  in 
the  world,  and  without  access  or  opportunity  for  any 
possible  communication  of  prayer  or  sacrifice.  But  when 
in  fellowship  with  the  high  priest  they  not  only  had 
peace  with  God,  but  they  were  at  once  translated  into 
the  sphere  of  divine  life  and  relations;  their  prayers  and 
sacrifices  were  accepted,  and  the  presence  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  made  their  whole  sphere  alive  with  spiritual  fruit- 
fulness  and  blessedness. 

V.  In  all  essential  points  this  Mosaic  ritual  system 
was  truly  and  designedly  representative  and  expository 
of  the  mediatorial  office,  and  especially  of  the  priestly 
function,  of  Christ.  The  two  correspond  as  shadow  and 
substance,  as  token-money  (paper  promises  to  pay)  and 
real  money ;  as  type — i.  e.  prophetic  symbol — and  anti- 
type. 1st.  Christ  was  a  real  priest :  (1)  He  possessed 
all  the  qualifications  really,  intrinsically  and  in  the  high- 
est degree.  He  was  absolutely  righteous  and  holy ;  he 
had  an  absolute  right  of  intimate  access  to  God  and  the 
right  of  bringing  near  to  God ;  he  possessed  in  his  own 
person  on  its  human  side  the  most  intrinsically  valuable 
and  acceptable  of  all  offerings ;  he  was  divinely  appointed 
to  this  end  (Heb.  2  :  16  ;  4  :  15  ;  5  :  5,  6  ;  7  :*26  ;  9  :  11- 
24  ;  John  16  :  28 ;  11 :  42).  (2)  He  performed  all  the 
parts  of  the  priest's  official  work :  (a)  He  mediated,  in 
the  general  sense  of  the  word  (John  14:6;  1  Tim.  2:5); 
(6)  he  offered  a  propitiatory  sacrifice  (Eph.  5:2;  Heb. 
9:  26;  10:  12;  1  John  2:2);  (c)  he  appeared  in  the 


THE  OFFICES  OF  CHRIST.  249 

true  Most  Holy  Place,  of  which  the  inner  court  of  the 
tabernacle  was  only  the  figure,  and  presented  his  sacri- 
ficed body  for  us,  and  ever  liveth  to  make  intercession 
for  us  (Heb.  9  :  24 ;  7  :  25  ;  Rom.  8  :  34  ;  1  John  2  :  1). 
(3)  He  was  also  the  sacrificial  victim.  His  characteristic 
designation  is  "  the  Lamb  of  God  which  taketh  away 
the  sin  of  the  world."  The  Lord  laid  upon  him  the 
iniquity  of  us  all :  he  was  made  a  sin-offering  for  us 
(2  Cor.  5  :  21).  2d.  The  Mosaic  ritual  was  designed  to 
be  expository  of  his  method  of  saving  men.  He  does 
essentially  and  exhaustively  that  which  the  ritual  ser- 
vices only  symbolized.  These  things  "  are  a  shadow  of 
things  to  come,  but  the  body  is  of  Christ"  (Col.  2  :  17; 
Heb.  8  :  5).  The  whole  New  Testament,  and  especially 
the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  is  a  continuous  commentary 
upon  the  truth  of  this  assertion.  The  same  is  conspic- 
uously proved  by  the  fact  that  the  veil  of  the  temple 
(the  key  to  the  entire  ritual  order)  was  "  rent  in  twain 
from  top  to  bottom  "  the  moment  Christ's  real  sacrifice 
was  offered.  The  instant  the  debt  was  discharged  by 
the  real  payment  the  token-money  was  canceled.  The 
instant  the  real  expiation  was  "  finished "  the  whole 
symbolical  system  provisionally  representing  it  became 
necessarily  funesbwm  officio.  Soon  afterward,  consequently, 
the  temple  was  razed  to  the  ground  and  the  ritual  ren- 
dered for  ever  impossible. 

VI.  On  the  other  hand,  the  perfect  priesthood  of 
Christ  and  his  one  intrinsically  efficacious  sacrifice  in- 
finitely and  in  manifold  ways  transcend  all  created  and 
finite  types.  Thus  Paul,  having  shown  abundantly  that 
the  priesthood  of  Aaron  is  typical  of  that  of  Christ,  pro- 
ceeds to  show  that  he  was  too  large  and  perpetual  a 


250  THE  OFFICES  OF  CHRIST. 

priest  to  be  one  of  a  series  included  under  the  Aaronie 
order — that,  on  the  contrary,  he  was  an  "everlasting 
priest "  after  the  order  of  Melchizedek,  who  was  with- 
out predecessors  or  successors.  The  Aaronie  priests  came 
in  succession,  a  series  of  many  individuals.  Christ  abides 
a  Priest  for  ever.  The  entire  mediatorial  and  priestly 
work  was,  under  the  Mosaic  system,  distributed  among 
many  priests  and  Levites,  each  of  whom  did  only  his 
appointed  part,  while  it  was  not  the  separate  parts,  but 
the  coherent  organic  whole,  which  sufficed  to  effect  the 
end  designed.  On  the  other  hand,  Christ  discharges  the 
entire  priestly  work  alone,  and  he  does  it  for  all  believers 
and  during  all  time  completely.  "  It  is  finished."  Each 
of  that  series  was  morally  impure,  only  ceremonially 
pure.  Christ  was  absolutely  pure  and  righteous.  Each 
of  that  series  was  under  the  obligations  of  law,  and  owed 
obedience  and  expiation  on  his  own  account.  Christ 
was  God  himself,  above  and  personally  independent 
of  all  legal  responsibilities,  able  therefore  to  render  a 
perfectly  free  vicarious  service  and  penal  suffering  in 
the  stead  of  others.  The  victim  offered  under  the 
ceremonial  institute  had  no  intrinsic  value.  Christ  is 
of  infinite  intrinsic  value.  The  victim  suffered  with- 
out choice  or  conscious  comprehension  of  the  part  it 
was  taking  in  the  drama  of  God's  spiritual  kingdom. 
In  the  case  of  Christ  the  real  moral  value  of  his  expiat- 
ing work  as  Priest,  its  power  to  make  amends,  to  repair 
the  offence  of  sin  to  the  justice  and  law  of  Jehovah,  did 
not  reside  in  his  mere  sufferings,  abstractly  considered, 
either  in  their  quantity  or  their  quality,  but  in  their 
connection  with  the  moral  attitude  and  exercises  of  the 
Person  suffering.     He  in  the  sinner's  place  and  suffer- 


THE  OFFICES  OF  CHRIST.  251 

ing  the  penalty  due  the  sinner,  he  in  the  mortal  agonies 
of  his  soul,  justified  God's  justice.  He  consented  to  the 
law  which  condemned  him  vicariously.  His  cross  was 
not,  like  the  final  lake  of  fire,  a  scene  of  mere  capital 
execution,  a  Golgotha.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  a  greater 
and  more  glorious  Mount  Sinai  on  which  the  absolutely 
perfect  moral  law  is  affirmed  and  made  venerable.  It  is 
the  great  white  throne  on  which  the  Moral  Governor  of 
the  universe  sits  regnant,  revealed  in  immaculate  white- 
ness ;  it  is  the  point  wherein  alone,  in  all  the  realms  of 
space  and  all  the  successions  of  time,  the  inmost  heart 
of  the  great  Jehovah  has  been  opened  as  through  a  wide 
window  to  the  sight  of  his  creatures ;  it  is  the  focus  in 
which  all  the  divine  perfections  are  blended  in  their 
most  intense  radiance.  Here  "  mercy  and  truth  are 
met  together,  righteousness  and  peace  have  kissed  each 
other"  (Ps.  85:  10).  And  here  the  holy  angels,  the 
elder  sons  of  God,  experienced  in  all  mysteries  of  the 
innermost  "  third  heavens,"  gather  in  intense  expectancy, 
and  with  faces  veiled  to  shield  them  from  the  insufferable 
light  "desire  to  look  into"  (1  Pet.  1 :  12)  this  uncovered 
heart  of  God. 

Besides,  in  the  type  the  sinner  was  one  party,  the 
offended  God  another  party,  the  mediating  priest  a  third 
party,  and  the  unwilling  victim  substituted  in  the  place 
of  the  sinner  is  yet  again  a  fourth  party.  From  this  the 
utter  misconception  has  been  inferred  that  Christ  is  a 
Friend  of  sinners,  while  God  the  Father  is  a  stern, 
inimical  Judge  determined  to  crush  them  according 
to  the  forms  of  law — that  Christ  gives  himself  to  suffer 
so  as  to  excite  the  compassion  of  the  angry  Father  and 
dispose  him  to  open  a  way  of  escape  to  the  objects  of  his 


252  THE  OFFICES  OF  CHRIST. 

wrath.  All  love  and  mercy  are  attributed  to  Christ,  while 
all  inexorable  justice  and  wrath  are  attributed  to  the 
Father.  The  Father  is  conceived  of  as  relenting  only 
in  consequence  of  the  effective  satisfaction  offered  by  the 
Son.  But  the  truth  is  that  the  love  and  tenderness  of 
the  Father  is  the  cause,  not  the  effect,  of  the  sacrificial 
death  of  his  Son.  "  God  so  loved  the  world  that  he  gave 
his  only-begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  in  him 
shall  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life."  Christ  in 
his  single  Person  unites  the  three  parties  of  the  offended 
God,  the  mediating  priest  and  the  substituted  victim.  It 
is  not  one  divine  Person  offering  satisfaction  to  another 
divine  Person.  But  the  divine  nature  in  Christ,  which 
is  numerically  one  with  that  of  the  Father,  is  the  very 
nature  that  both  demands  and  furnishes  the  satisfaction. 
The  merciful  God  out  of  his  infinite  compassion  assumes 
to  himself,  and  inflicts  upon  himself  in  his  own  personal 
humanity,  the  penalty  in  the  stead  of  the  sinner.  "Ipse 
deus,  ipse  saeerdos,  ipse  hostia,  pro  se,  de  se,  sibi  satisfccit " 
(John  Wessel,  1419-89).  Himself  at  once  truly  God 
and  truly  Priest  and  truly  sacrificial  Victim,  he  made 
satisfaction  for  the  sins  of  men  to  himself,  by  himself, 
by  means  of  his  own  agonies.  The  Father,  Son  and 
Holy  Ghost  equally  love  the  sinner,  while  they  equally 
demand  punishment  for  the  sin.  The  Father  gives  his 
well-beloved  Son;  the  Son  voluntarily  and  mi  jure  puts 
himself  in  the  sinner's  place  to  receive  the  judicial  blow; 
and  it  is  by  the  eternal  Spirit  (sympathizing  and  co-op- 
erating) that  he  offered  himself  without  spot  to  God 
(Heb.  9 :  14).  The  whole  Godhead  in  all  the  adorable 
Persons  is  revealed  in  this  transcendent  act  of  human 
redemption.     They  exhibit  a  common  holiness  tolerating 


THE  OFFICES  OF  CHRIST.  253 

no  sin,  and  a  common  love  sparing  no  sacrifice  to  deliver 
the  beloved  object  from  destruction.  But  to  us  this  is 
especially  revealed  in  the  divine-human  Person  of  Christ. 
As  he  can  the  most  fully  sympathize  with  us  because  he 
is  a  man  and  has  suffered,  so  we  can  most  fully  sympa- 
thize with  him.  In  him  we  see  the  signs  of  sacrifice  we 
understand — the  bloody  sweat,  the  crown  of  thorns,  the 
pierced  hands  and  feet  and  side.  But  he  and  the  Father 
are  one.  The  Person  we  see  and  love,  the  tears  and  blood 
we  understand,  are  those  of  a  man.  But  the  man  is  God, 
and  the  blended  righteousness  and  love  which  his  death 
reveals  are  the  righteousness  and  the  love  of  God. 

VII.  This  Priesthood  of  Christ  is  Absolutely  Perfect. — 
1st.  He  has  been  the  medium  of  communication  between 
God  and  man  from  the  beginning  through  all  stages  of 
human  history.  His  kingdom  was  prepared  from  the 
foundation  of  the  world  (Matt.  25 :  34).  He  has  been 
Priest  ever  since  the  foundation  of  the  world  (Heb. 
9  :  25,  26).  He  is  the  Lamb  slain  from  the  foundation 
of  the  world  (Rev.  13  :  8).  The  gospel  which  Paul 
preached  and  we  believe  is  the  mystery  (secret)  which 
from  the  beginning  of  the  world  had  been  hid  in  God, 
who  created  all  things  in  Jesus  Christ  (Eph.  3  :  9). 
Through  him  have  all  the  scattered  rays  of  true  religion 
in  all  ages  and  to  all  people  been  revealed.  In  him  all 
true  believers  of  all  dispensations  have  been  accepted, 
and  found  the  standing-place  and  life.  Through  his 
atonement  not  only  all  adult  believers,  but  all  dying  in 
infancy,  all  idiots  and  all  who  have  been  saved  by  any 
extraordinary  means  known  only  to  God,  are  reconciled 
to  God  and  stand  absolved  from  guilt. 

2d.  He  is,  in  the  complete  and  permanent  and  saving 


254  THE  OFFICES  OF  CHRIST. 

sense,  the  Priest  ouly  of  his  own  people,  his  sheep,  those 
from  the  beginning  given  him  by  the  Father,  those  who 
believe  on  him  through  the  effectual  calling  of  his  Spirit. 
Nevertheless,  it  is  true  that  in  a  very  important  sense  he 
has  always  been  the  Priest  of  the  whole  historic  human 
race.  He  is  the  second  Adam.  He  took  upon  himself 
human  nature,  the  seed  of  Abraham.  He  was  made 
under  the  law  and  fulfilled  the  obligations,  preceptive 
and  punitive,  which  rest  upon  all  men  alike.  He  ar- 
rested in  behalf  of  the  whole  race  as  a  body  the  immediate 
execution  of  the  legal  penalty.  The  whole  course  of 
human  history,  of  all  peoples  and  nations,  of  all  re- 
ligions and  civilizations,  has  been  evolved  under  the 
shield  of  his  cross,  under  a  dispensation  of  arrested 
judgment  or  forbearance,  secured  through  his  media- 
tion. He  by  his  expiation  removed  utterly  out  of  the 
way  of  all  men  alike  the  objective  hindrances  in  the 
justice  of  God  and  in  the  judgment  of  the  law  which 
rendered  their  salvation  absolutely  impossible.  In  this 
general  sense  Christ,  as  the  man  whom  God  has  appointed 
Priest,  is  the  common  bond  of  the  whole  human  race, 
and  his  meritorious  service  the  common  basis  of  all 
human  history. 

3d.  But  while  he,  in  his  priestly  work,  has  made  the 
salvation  of  all  men  possible  on  the  condition  of  their 
accepting  it,  he  has  made  the  salvation  of  those  whom 
the  Father  has  given  him  certain  by  purchasing  for  them 
that  faith  which  is  the  condition  of  their  personal  par- 
ticipation in  his  work.  He  rendered  his  obedience  and 
suffering  in  the  stead  of  those  whom  he  represented 
under  a  covenant  with  his  Father.  The  Father  from 
the  beginning  "gave  to  him  "  his  sheep.     These,  by  the 


THE  OFFICES  OF  CHRIST.  255 

very  act  of  Christ's  atonement,  are  secured  to  him. 
When  it  pleased  the  Lord  to  make  his  sonl  an  offering 
for  sin,  it  was  also  provided  that  he  should  see  his  seed 
— that  he  should  see  of  the  travail  of  his  soul  and  should 
be  satisfied  (Isa.  53  :  10,  11).  Our  Confession  of  Faith 
declares  (chap.  viii.  §  5) :  "  The  Lord  Jesus,  by  his  perfect 
obedience  and  sacrifice  of  himself,  which  he  through  the 
eternal  Spirit  once  offered  up  unto  God,  hath  "  not  only 
"  fully  satisfied  the  justice  of  the  Father,"  but  also  "  pur- 
chased not  only  reconciliation,  but  an  everlasting  inherit- 
ance in  the  kingdom  of  heaven  for  all  those  whom  the 
Father  hath  given  unto  him."  Not  merely  forgiveness 
of  sins,  but  all  that  we  shall  ever  experience :  regenera- 
tion, justification,  the  adoption  of  sons,  fatherly  disci- 
pline, perseverance,  increase  of  grace,  deliverance  in 
death,  the  resurrection-  of  our  bodies  and  all  the  unim- 
aginable beatitudes  of  heaven, — all  these,  kingdom  and 
priesthood  and  glory,  are  parts  of  "the  purchased  pos- 
session" secured  for  us  through  the  priesthood  of 
Christ. 

4th.  And  the  perfection  of  Christ's  priesthood  is  this, 
that  he  is  a  Priest  for  ever.  We  rest  not  upon  an  his- 
toric fact  long  passed,  upon  a  priestly  office  transacted  in 
our  behalf  two  thousand  years  ago.  But  we  rest  upon 
a  living  Priest,  an  absolutely  immortal  Priestj  whose  en- 
tire priestly  work,  past,  present  and  future,  is  all  one. 
We  rest  on  a  Priest  who  is  not  only  living,  but  who  is 
the  omnipresent,  immanent  Source  of  eternal  life  to  all 
who  accept  his  mediation.  He  is  ever  appearing  in  the 
presence  of  God  for  us.  He  is  ever  making  intercession 
for  us.  He  sits  enthroned  at  the  right  hand  of  all  power, 
making  all  things  work  together  for  good  to  them  who 


256  THE  OFFICES  OF  CHRIST. 

love  him.  He  is  at  the  same  time,  through  his  Spirit, 
omnipresent  as  our  Priest  in  all  hearts  and  throughout 
all  lives — in  our  hearts  and  in  our  lives,  in  our  closets 
and  in  our  homes,  in  our  markets  and  in  our  temples, 
making  iutercession  for  us  and  making  intercession  with- 
in us  (Rom.  8  :  26,  27). 

And  he  is  our  only  Priest.  The  Christian  ministry  is 
not  a  priesthood.  This  is  a  fundamental  doctrine.  The 
titles  by  which  this  ministry  is  called  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment, and  all  the  inspired  definitions  of  the  office  to  be 
discharged  by  these  ministers,  fall  under  the  two  cate- 
gories of  teaching  and  ruling.  Absolutely  nothing  else  is 
provided  for ;  absolutely  nothing  else  is  even  hinted  at ; 
absolutely  no  place  is  left  for  a  New  Testament  priest- 
hood. Christ  occupies  the  office,  and  discharges  all  the 
functions  of  it  exhaustively.  Before  Christ  came  there 
was  a  place  for  a  symbolical  priesthood  as  types  or  pro- 
phetical settings-forth  of  his  priesthood.  But  there  is  no 
place  for  the  token-money  when  the  gold  has  been  paid. 
There  is  no  place  for  the  type  when  the  antitype  has 
come,  no  place  for  the  shadow  when  the  sun  shines  at 
noon.  It  is  error  to  suppose  that  Christ's  work  can  be 
rendered  more  complete,  is  supplemented,  by  an  earthly 
priesthood.  It  is  error  to  suppose  that  we  need  many  or 
any  other  earthly  mediators  to  go  between  us  and  Christ, 
who  is  our  Brother,  our  own  flesh  and  blood,  within  us 
and  around  us  all  the  time. 

Dear  friends,  take  my  advice  in  this.  In  maintaining 
our  evangelical  position  agaiust  Romanists,  Ritualists 
and  exclusive  Churchmen,  do  not  waste  your  force  by 
laying  emphasis  upon  any  subordinate  question  as  to 
church  government,  liturgies  or  parity  of  the  clergy. 


THE  OFFICES  OF  CHRIST.  257 

Si  and  up  only  for  essentials.  Strike  right  at  the  heart 
of  error.  The  three  central  dangerous  errors  of  Roman- 
ism and  Ritualism  are  these :  (1)  The  perpetuity  of  the 
apostolate;  (2)  the  priestly  character  and  offices  of 
Christian  ministers ;  (3)  the  sacramental  principle,  or  the 
depending  upon  the  sacraments  as  the  essential,  initial 
and  ordinary  channels  of  grace.  These  are  three  radical 
heresies  which  exclude  the  truth,  derogate  from  the  honor 
of  Christ  and  betray  souls  by  inducing  them  to  build 
upon  false  foundations.  But  if  these  three  pestiferous 
roots  of  error  are  excluded,  there  can  be  no  difference  of 
radical  importance  between  bodies  of  Christians  who  hold 
to  the  historic  faith  of  "the  holy  catholic  Church." 

5th.  Being  a  Priest  for  ever,  he  will  be  the  organ  of 
our  communion  with  God,  and  his  merits  the  foundation 
of  our  standing  during  all  eternity  as  well  as  upon  earth. 
In  the  New  Jerusalem  the  "  Lamb  shall  be  the  light 
thereof."  As  a  "  Lamb  that  has  been  slain  "  he  stands 
in  "  the  midst  of  the  throne."  And  of  all  the  redeemed 
it  is  said  that  "  the  Lamb  which  is  in  the  midst  of  the 
throne  shall  feed  them,  and  shall  lead  them  unto  living 
fountains  of  waters"  (Rev.  7  :  17). 

6th.  And,  finally,  we  are  rendered  complete  in  him, 
"for  in  him  dwelleth  all  the  fullness  of  the  Godhead 
bodily,  and  in  him  ye  are  made  full,  who  is  the  Head 
of  all  principality  and  power "  (New  Version,  Col.  2  : 
9,  10).  Having  identified  himself  with  us,  he  iden- 
tifies us  with  himself.  We  are  endowed  with  both  the 
qualifications  and  prerogatives  which  distinguish  himself 
in  relation  to  God.  We  receive  an  unction  from  the 
Holy  One,  and  know  all  things.  We  receive  as  the 
priests   of  God  the  right  to  draw  near  to  the  inmost 

17 


258  THE  OFFICES  OF  CHRIST. 

heart  of  God  and  to  offer  acceptable  service  and  worship. 
We  are  delivered  from  all  bondage,  alike  from  the  evil 
within  us  and  from  the  evil  without  us,  and  we  are  set 
in  the  position  of  those  who  reign  over  all  the  subordi- 
nate powers  alike  of  the  material  and  of  the  spiritual 
worlds.  He  crowned  us  with  his  own  crown,  and  made  us 
to  sit  with  himself  on  his  own  throne,  for  we  are,  through 
the  whole  range  of  our  being  and  during  the  entire  sweep 
of  our  existence,  joint-heirs  together  with  Christ.  This 
truth  is  as  sure  as  it  is  wonderful.  Yet  it  utterly  pass- 
eth  understanding.  Thought  gives  place  to  emotion  and 
rises  into  adoring  rapture :  "  Worthy  is  the  Lamb  that 
was  slain  to  receive  power,  and  riches,  and  wisdom,  and 
strength,  and  honor,  and  glory,  and  blessing.  Blessing, 
and  honor,  and  glory,  and  power,  be  unto  Him  that  sit- 
teth  upon  the  throne,  and  unto  the  Lamb  for  ever  and 
ever."  "  For  thou  wast  slain,  and  hast  redeemed  us  to 
God  by  thy  blood,  out  of  every  kindred,  and  tongue,  and 
people,  and  nation ;  and  hast  made  us  unto  our  God 
kings  and  priests:  and  we  shall  reign  on  the  earth." 


LECTURE  XII. 

THE  KINGLY  OFFICE  OF  CHRIST. 

That  the  office  of  Mediator  between  God  and  sinful 
men  must  include  the  function  of  kingly  dominion  and 
control  is  self-evident.  Christ's  functions  as  Prophet 
and  Priest  would  have  been  ineffective  without  it.  That 
the  promised  Messiah  of  the  Old  Testament  was  to  be  a 
King,  and  that  the  historical  incarnate  God  of  the  New 
Testament  actually  is  a  King  in  the  highest  sense,  are 
witnessed  to  by  almost  every  page  of  the  whole  Bible. 

"  There  shall  come  a  Star  out  of  Jacob,  and  a  Sceptre 
shall  rise  out  of  Israel"  (Num.  24:17);  "His  name 
shall  be  called  Wonderful,  Counselor,  The  Mighty  God, 
The  Everlasting  Father,  The  Prince  of  Peace  "  (Isa.  9  : 
6);  I  have  "set  my  King  upon  my  holy  hill  of  Zion.  .  .  . 
Ask  of  me,  and  I  shall  give  thee  the  heathen  for  thine 
inheritance,  and  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth  for  thy 
possession.  Thou  shalt  break  them  with  a  rod  of  iron  ; 
thou  shalt  dash  them  in  pieces  like  a  potter's  vessel " 
(Ps.  2  :  6-9) ;  "  One  like  the  Son  of  man  came  with  the 
clouds  of  heaven,  and  came  to  the  Ancient  of  days.  And 
there  was  given  him  dominion,  and  glory,  and  a  king- 
dom, that  all  people,  nations,  and  languages,  should  serve 
him ;  his  dominion  is  an  everlasting  dominion,  which 
shall  not  pass  away,  and  his  kingdom  that  which  shall 

259 


260  THE  KINGLY  OFFICE  OF  CHRIST. 

not  be  destroyed"  (Dan.  7  :  13,  14).  The  angel  Gabriel, 
in  the  annunciation  to  the  Virgin  Mary,  said,  "  Thou 
shalt  conceive  in  thy  womb,  and  bring  forth  a  son, 
and  shalt  call  his  name  Jesus.  He  shall  be  great,  and 
shall  be  called  the  Son  of  the  Highest  ;  and  the  Lord 
God  shall  give  unto  him  the  throne  of  his  father  David  : 
and  he  shall  reign  over  the  house  of  Jacob  for  ever ;  and 
of  his  kingdom  there  shall  be  no  end  "  (Luke  1  :  31-33). 
The  universality  and  pre-eminence  and  absoluteness  of 
his  kingly  authority  is  expressed  in  the  Revelation  when 
it  is  declared  that  the  Lamb  is  "  King  of  kings  and 
Lord  of  lords."  The  ancient  Hebrews  in  reading  sub- 
stituted "Adonai"  for  "Jehovah."  The  Septuagint 
translates  Adonai  by  KupcoQ,  Lord.  This  latter  word 
occurs  between  seven  and  eight  hundred  times  in  the 
New  Testament,  and  in  the  vast  majority  of  instances  it 
is  applied  to  Christ.  The  title  which  spontaneously 
springs  to  the  lips  of  all  men,  even  of  the  indifferent 
stranger,  but  with  infinitely  more  meaning  from  the  lips 
of  all  who  have  been  made  recipients  of  his  love,  is 
Lord,  Jesus,  Possessor,  Master,  Sovereign.  It  is  uni- 
versal over  all,  dominating  the  highest  as  well  as  the 
lowest,  comprehending  and  bending  to  its  own  sway  all 
lower  authority  and  power — King  of  kings.  It  is  ab- 
solute in  all,  knowing  no  limit  in  soul  or  body,  in 
time  or  eternity,  absolutely  owning,  possessing  and  dis- 
posing to  his  own  uses  all  we  are  and  all  we  possess,  each 
thing  entirely,  and  all  things  in  all  relations. 

I.  And  all  this  is  predicated  of  him  not  merely  as 
God,  but  as  God-man  in  his  work  as  Mediator  between 
God  and  man.  As  the  second  Person  of  the  Trinity, 
equal  in  power  and  glory  to  the  eternal  Father,  the 


THE  KINGLY  OFFICE  OF  CHRIST.  261 

Word  of  God  possesses  an  absolute,  inherent  sovereign 
dominion  as  King  over  the  whole  universe.  This  au- 
thority is  intrinsic,  underived,  inalienable,  and  is  the 
same  yesterday,  to-day  and  for  ever.  During  all  the 
years  of  the  earthly  life  of  the  God-man,  alike  while  an 
unconscious  babe  in  the  manger  and  while  hanging;  a 
dying  victim  on  the  cross,  the  eternal  Son  of  God  was 
exercising  his  sovereign  dominion  over  the  entire  uni- 
verse. 

But  in  his  office  as  Mediator,  and  in  his  entire  Person 
after  the  incarnation  as  God-man,  he  was  constituted  a 
King  by  the  authority  of  the  entire  Godhead  as  repre- 
sented in  the  Father.  His  mediatorial  sovereignty  is 
derived  as  contradistinguished  from  his  essential  divine 
sovereignty  as  intrinsic.  It  is  given  to  him  by  the 
Father  as  the  reward  of  his  obedience  and  suffering;. 
"He  emptied  himself,  taking  the  form  of  a  servant, 
being  made  in  the  likeness  of  men ;  and  being  found  in 
fashion  as  a  man,  he  humbled  himself,  becoming  obedi- 
ent even  unto  death,  yea,  the  death  of  the  cross.  Where- 
fore also  God  highly  exalted  him,  and  gave  unto  him 
the  name  which  is  above  every  name  ;  that  in  the  name 
of  Jesus  every  knee  should  bow,  of  things  in  heaven, 
and  things  on  earth,  and  things  under  the  earth,  and 
that  every  tongue  should  confess  that  Jesus  Christ  is 
Lord,  to  the  glory  of  God  the  Father  "  (Phil  2  :  7-11). 
This  authority,  thus  bestowed  upon  him  by  the  Father, 
is  special,  having  particular  reference  to  the  salvation  of 
his  own  people,  and,  to  that  end,  to  the  administration  of 
all  the  provisions  of  the  covenant  of  grace,  of  which  he 
is  the  gracious  executive.  It  attaches  not  to  his  divine 
nature  exclusively,  but  to  his  entire  Person  as  the  God- 


262  THE  KINGLY  OFFICE  OF  CHRIST. 

man.  A  max  sits  upon  the  mediatorial  throne  of  the 
universe.  He  who  stood  insulted,  despised,  condemned 
at  Pilate's  judgment-seat,  now  sitting  at  the  right  hand 
of  God,  rules  all  worlds,  as  he  will  hereafter,  seated  on 
the  great  white  throne,  judge  all  men.  Our  blood- 
brother  according  to  the  flesh  has  "  all  power  in  heaven 
and  in  earth,"  that  he  may  "  make  all  things  work  together 
for  good  to  them  who  love  God."  The  attributes  of  both 
the  divine  and  the  human  natures  are  together  exercised  in 
the  administration  of  this  kingly  reign.  All  his  kingly 
acts  are  infinitely  wise,  righteous  and  powerful,  because  he 
is  God.  But  they  are  at  the  same  time  the  acts  of  a  man. 
They  possess  a  truly  human  quality,  for  in  all  his  ad- 
ministration he  has  a  feeling  for  our  infirmities  as  well 
as  an  eye  for  our  interests. 

II.  Christ  is  already  a  King  upon  his  throne  in  the 
full  sweep  of  his  kingly  administration.  He  has,  of 
course,  as  the  eternal  Word,  been  Mediator  between 
God  and  sinful  man  ever  since  the  fall  of  Adam.  Other- 
wise, the  sentence  of  the  law  must  have  been  uncondition- 
ally executed  immediately  upon  the  apostasy.  Ever  since, 
we  have  been  living  and  human  history  has  been  evolved 
under  a  system  of  forbearance  involving  an  arrest  of  judg- 
ment. This  was  of  course  possible  only  as  the  human 
family  has  existed  under  the  protection  of  a  divine  and 
competent  Mediator.  All  the  functions  of  the  media- 
torial office  mutually  imply  one  another.  If  he  were 
"  the  Lamb  slain  from  the  foundation  of  the  world  " 
(Rev.  13 :  8),  he  must  have  been  a  Prophet  before 
Moses,  a  Priest  before  Aaron,  and  a  King  before  David. 
He  was  in  these  respects  their  predecessor  and  the  ground 
from  which  they  sprang,  as  well  as  their  successor  and 


THE  KINGLY  OFFICE  OF  CHRIST.  263 

antitype.  A  close  inspection  shows  that  the  Jehovah 
of  the  Old  Testament,  who  is  also  called  the  Angel  of, 
or  the  one  sent  by,  Jehovah,  is  the  second  Person  of  the 
Trinity,  as  is  declared  by  the  author  of  the  Epistle  to 
the  Hebrews.  (Compare  Ps.  45  :  6,  7  and  Heb.  1 :  8,  9  ; 
Gen.  31  :  11,  13  and  48  :  15,  16,  and  Hosea  12  :  2-5, 
Ex.  4  :  14,  14  and  Acts  7  :  30-35.)  He  reigned  over  all 
human  aifairs,  as  the  biblical  history  relates.  He  gave 
the  law  from  Sinai,  including  the  entire  ceremonial  ritual, 
as  well  as  the  Ten  Commandments.  He  brought  Israel 
out  of  Egypt  through  the  wilderness  and  established  them 
in  the  Holy  Land  "with  a  mighty  hand,  and  with  an  out- 
stretched arm,  and  with  great  terribleness,  and  with  signs, 
and  with  wonders  "  (Deut.  26  :  8).  He  fought  their  bat- 
tles with  the  Philistines,  established  his  types  and  repre- 
sentatives, David  and  Solomon,  upon  their  temporary 
symbolical  thrones,  and  he  directed  the  entire  course  of 
human  history  to  the  consummation  of  the  fullness  of 
times,  in  preparation  for  his  own  advent  in  the  flesh. 
But,  on  the  other  hand,  in  the  strictest  sense  we  must 
date  the  actual  and  formal  assumption  of  his  kingly 
office,  in  the  full  and  visible  exercise  thereof,  from  the 
moment  of  his  ascension  into  heaven  from  this  earth 
and  his  session  at  the  right  hand  of  the  Father.  He 
could  not  have  actually  entered  upon  his  kingly  office 
as  the  God-man  before  he  had  become  both  God  and 
man  in  the  one  Person  through  his  incarnation.  His 
function  as  Priest  in  a  sense  precedes  his  function  as 
a  King,  as  well  as  acts  together  with  it.  His  atone- 
ment is  the  foundation  of  his  royal  right  to  his  people 
and  his  royal  administration  in  their  behalf.  When  he 
was  announced  it  was  "  declared  that  the  king-dom  of 


264  THE  KINGLY  OFFICE  OF  CHRIST. 

heaven  was  at  hand."  He  was  received  by  his  disciples 
and  rejected  by  the  Jews  as  one  claiming  to  be  a  king. 
Pilate  wrote  the  title  of  his  kingship  in  three  languages 
and  attached  it  to  his  cross.  "  This  man,  after  he  had 
offered  one  sacrifice  for  sins  for  ever,  sat  down  on  the 
right  hand  of  God ;  from  henceforth  expecting  till  his 
enemies  be  made  his  footstool"  (Heb.  10:  12,  13).  His 
kingly  office  is  essentially  the  royal  dispensation  of 
grace  by  him  as  a  Saviour.  In  order  that  this  may  be 
universally  and  infallibly  effectual  and  complete,  he  de- 
clares that  now  "all  power  is  given  to  me  in  heaven 
and  on  earth,"  and  he  founds  on  this  his  great  commis- 
sion to  his  Church :  "  Go  ye  therefore,  and  disciple  all 
nations."  And  Peter  on  the  great  day  of  Pentecost  de- 
clared that  when  the  prophet  David  recorded  the  sworn 
promise  of  God  to  raise  up  Christ  to  sit  upon  the  throne, 
he  spake  of  the  resurrection  of  Christ :  "  This  Jesus  hath 
God  raised  up,  whereof  we  all  are  witnesses.  Therefore, 
being  by  the  right  hand  of  God  exalted,  and  having  re- 
ceived of  the  Father  the  promise  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  he 
hath  shed  forth  this.  Therefore  let  all  the  house  of  Israel 
know  assuredly,  that  God  hath  made  that  same  Jesus, 
whom  ye  have  crucified,  both  Lord  and  Christ"  (Acts 
2 :  32-36). 

III.  The  present  mediatorial  kingdom  of  the  God- 
man  is  absolutely  universal,  embracing  the  whole  universe 
and  every  department  of  it.  This  principle  evidently 
involves  the  most  momentous  consequences.  It  has  been 
disastrously  abused  by  the  Papal  Church,  and  just  as 
disastrously  ignored  by  the  Protestants.  It  follows  log- 
ically from  the  Papal  principles  that  the  Church  is  an 
external  visible  organization  of  which  the  pope,  the  vice- 


TEE  KINGLY  OFFICE  OF  CHRIST.  265 

gerent  of  Christ,  is  the  head — that  if  Christ  is  absolute 
Sovereign  over  the  universe  and  all  its  departments,  then 
the  pope,  his  vicar,  is  supreme  governor  at  least  over  all 
bodies  and  affairs  of  mankind.  But  upon  Protestant 
principles  this  atrocious  consequence  disappears.  The 
Church  is  not  a  corporation  or  visible  organization. 
Christ  has  no  representative  exercising  vicariously  his 
royal  authority  on  earth.  There  is  no  question  as  to 
Church  authority  or  union  between  Church  and  State 
involved.  Protestants  should  shut  out  for  ever  all  these 
dead  issues  and  the  prejudices  which  they  excite,  and 
open  their  minds  to  the  scriptural  evidence  and  to  the 
stupendous  and  infinitely  blessed  practical  consequences 
of  the  great  principle  I  have  stated — that  the  mediatorial 
kingdom  of  the  God-man  is  absolutely  universal,  em- 
bracing in  its  rightful  sway  all  God's  creatures  and  all 
their  actions. 

This  truth,  nevertheless,  is  just  as  plainly  and  as  cer- 
tainly taught  in  the  New  Testament  as  any  other  article 
of  our  faith.  In  Ps.  8,  God  declares  his  purpose  to  put 
all  things  under  the  feet  of  man.  This  purpose  Paul 
(Eph.  1  :  20-23)  declares  was  fulfilled  in  Christ  when  he 
raised  him  from  the  dead  and  set  him  at  his  own  right 
hand  in  heavenly  places,  far  above  all  principality,  and 
power,  and  might,  and  dominion,  and  every  name  that  is 
named,  not  only  in  this  world  (aion) ;  and  hath  put  all 
things  under  his  feet,  and  gave  him  to  be  Head  over  all 
things  to  the  Church.  He  declared  to  his  disciples,  as 
the  ground  of  the  commission  he  gave  to  them,  "  that  all 
power  had  been  given  to  him  in  heaven  and  on  earth." 
In  Phil.  2  :  9,  10,  Paul  says:  "God  hath  highly  exalted 
him,  and  given  him  a  name  which  is  above  every  name : 


266  THE  KINGLY  OFFICE  OF  CHRIST. 

that  at  the  name  of  Jesus  every  knee  should  bow,  of 
things  iu  heaven,  and  things  in  earth,  and  things  under 
the  earth."  This  absolutely  and  exhaustively  includes 
the  whole  universe  in  all  its  categories  of  heaven,  earth 
and  hell,  just  as  the  passage  iu  Ephesians  includes  all 
duration,  the  awn,  or  world-age,  which  now  is  and  that 
which  is  to  come.  And  this  is  repeated  and  emphasized 
in  the  most  forceful  language  in  Heb.  2:8:  "  For  in 
that  he  put  all  things  in  subjection  under  him,  he  left 
nothing  that  is  not  put  under  him ;"  and  in  1  Cor.  15  :  27, 
He  only  "  is  excepted  which  did  put  all  things  under  him." 
That  is,  absolutely  all  things  but  God  the  Father.  And 
all  this  is  spoken,  not  of  his  authority  as  eternal  God, 
but  of  his  mediatorial  authority  as  God-man  ;  because  (1) 
it  is  given  to  him  by  the  Father ;  (2)  it  is  given  to  him 
as  the  reward  of  his  obedience  and  suiferings ;  (3)  when 
the  purpose  for  which  it  is  given  is  fully  accomplished, 
"  when  he  has  subdued  all  things  unto  himself,"  he 
shall  deliver  up  this  "given"  kingdom  over  the  uni- 
verse "to  God  even  the  Father,"  and  become  himself, 
as  God-man,  "subject  unto  Him  that  put  all  things 
under  him,  that  God  may  be  all  and  in  all "  (1  Cor. 
15  :  24-28). 

Theologians  have  accordingly  made  a  distinction,  de- 
signed to  classify  the  different  aspects  and  methods  of 
this  vast  administration  of  royal  power  between  Christ's 
kingdoms  of  power,  of  grace  and  of  glory.  These,  of 
course,  are  not  absolutely  different  realms  or  spheres  of 
government,  since  the  kingdom  of  power  includes  the 
kingdom  of  grace,  and  the  kingdom  of  grace  precedes 
and  prepares  the  way  for  the  kingdom  of  glory.  They 
are  rather  different  methods  of  working  and  different 


THE  KINGLY  OFFICE  OF  CHRIST.  267 

special  systems  of  administration,  all  comprehended  in 
his  universal  reign  as  King. 

I.  Christ's  Kingdom  of  Power. — This  is  the  providen- 
tial reign  of  the  God-man  over  the  whole  universe  in  the 
interests  of  his  mediatorial  work  as  Redeemer  of  his  own 
people.  The  universe  in  all  its  provinces,  material  and 
spiritual,  constitutes  one  system.  The  certain  attainment 
of  any  end,  the  absolute  control  of  any  single  depart- 
ment, necessarily  involves  the  control  and  the  co-ordinate 
administration  of  all  the  parts. 

(1.)  Hence  Christ's  universal  kingdom  of  power  must 
include,  in  the  first  instance,  his  providential  control  of 
the  whole  physical  universe.  The  physical  universe  is 
the  necessary  basis  of  the  intellectual,  moral  and  spirit- 
ual world.  The  higher  cannot  be  adequately  governed 
unless  the  lower  is  controlled.  The  laws  of  matter  and 
the  order  of  the  material  world  remain  the  same  as  be- 
fore, and  no  change  takes  place  that  can  be  discovered 
by  science.  Nevertheless,  the  glorious  fact  is  that  the 
God-man,  as  mediatorial  King,  has,  during  the  present 
axon  or  world-age,  brought  the  whole  mechanism  of  the 
material  universe  into  requisition  as  means  to  secure  the 
establishment  of  his  mediatorial  kingdom.  He  guides 
the  marshaled  hosts  of  heaven  to  that  supreme  result. 
The  great  currents  of  all  the  world-forces  are  directed  to 
that  end.  The  sweet  influences  of  the  Pleiades  obey  his 
voice  and  the  bands  of  Orion  are  in  his  hands.  It  is 
not  the  God  absolute,  but  it  is  our  kinsman  Redeemer, 
the  man  who  is  also  God,  who  orders  the  courses  of  the 
stars,  "  who  covereth  the  heaven  with  clouds,  who  pre- 
pareth  rain  for  the  earth,  who  maketh  grass  to  grow 
upon  the  mountains ;  who  giveth  to  the  beast  his  food, 


268  THE  KINGLY  OFFICE  OF  CHRIST. 

and  to  the  young  ravens  when  they  cry  f  who  "num- 
bereth  all  the  hairs  of  our  heads,"  and  "  will  not  allow 
any  plague  to  come  nigh  our  dwelling." 

(2.)  Christ's  mediatorial  kingdom  of  power  includes 
the  universal  moral  government  of  God  over  all  his  in- 
telligent creatures.  The  moral  government  of  God  over 
the  human  family  constitutes  only  one  province  of  the 
immeasurable  empire.  Angels  and  devils  and  whatever 
intelligent  creatures  may  exist  in  other  worlds  must  con- 
stitute one  systematic  moral  whole  with  the  human  race. 
The  entire  moral  empire  of  God  must  be  governed  on 
the  same  general  principles  of  righteousness.  The  will 
of  God  must  be  the  common  rule  of  all,  his  love  their 
common  motive,  his  glory  their  common  end,  his  fellow- 
ship their  common  goal.  Christ  in  this  widest  sense  is 
King  of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords.  God  hath  appointed 
his  Son  "heir  of  all  things."  He  is  placed  far  above 
all  principality,  and  power,  and  might,  and  dominion, 
and  every  name  that  is  named."  "  All  in  heaven  and 
all  on  earth,  who  are  to  bow  at  the  name  of  Jesus,"  iu- 
clude  all  rational  creatures.  And  all  men  and  angels 
are  to  be  gathered  to  his  judgment-seat.  The  devils 
"are  reserved  in  everlasting  chains  under  darkness  unto 
the  judgment  of  the  great  day"  (Jude  6). 

He  exercises  this  universal  moral  government  provi- 
dentially in  various  ways,  according  to  the  various  char- 
acters and  conditions  of  his  subjects,  but  always  upon 
the  same  principles  of  essential  righteousness.  He  em- 
ploys angels  as  ministering  spirits  for  his  people  at  pres- 
ent, and  he  will  employ  them  as  his  executive  agents  in 
the  siftings  of  the  great  judgment.  He  restrains  and 
controls  the  action  of  the  devil  and  his  angels,  the  spirits 


THE  KINGLY  OFFICE  OF  CHRIST.  269 

of  the  power  of  the  air.  He  controls  all  events  for  the 
good  of  his  people.  Especially,  he  directs  events  to  the 
end  of  effecting  their  complete  discipline  and  education, 
and  consequent  preparation  for  the  enjoyment  of  his 
glory.  The  end  is  the  complete  redemption  of  his  peo- 
ple. But  in  order  to  secure  this  all  the  members  of  the 
human  family  in  their  successive  generations  and  in  their 
various  family  and  national  groups  must  be  dealt  with 
as  subjects  of  the  same  government.  During  the  pres- 
ent world-age  it  is  not  God  absolute,  but  our  kinsman 
Kedeemer,  the  God-man,  who  is  the  Lord,  "  the  Gov- 
ernor among  the  nations."  He  speaks  with  authority  to 
every  conscience.  He  has  a  supreme  right  to  control  for 
his  own  ends  the  service  of  every  life.  He  orders  every 
political  and  social  event  and  the  entire  evolution  of  civ- 
ilization and  associated  human  activity  to  the  accomplish- 
ment of  his  supreme  end.  And  at  the  close  every  tribe 
and  people  and  tongue  shall  stand  to  be  judged  before 
his  throne  and  to  have  its  destiny  fixed  by  his  decree. 

II.  Christ's  Kingdom  of  Grace. — This  spiritual  king- 
dom, which  is  the  special  care  of  Christ,  for  the  sake  of 
which  his  government  of  the  universe  is  undertaken,  re- 
spects first,  his  own  spiritual  people  individually,  and 
second,  his  professed  people  collectively  organized  in  the 
visible  Church. 

(1.)  Christ  reigns  over  his  own  individually,  both  from 
without  and  from  within.  From  without  he  subdues  his 
and  their  enemies,  restraining  Satan,  his  angels  and  wicked 
men.  He  strengthens  them  in  weakness,  defends  them 
in  danger,  directs  and  co-operates  with  them  in  action, 
and  gives  them  ultimately  the  victory  in  all  their  con- 
tests, and  causes  them  always  to  persevere  to  the  end, 


270  THE  KINGLY  OFFICE  OF  CHRIST. 

that  they  may  receive  the  crown  of  life.  He  also,  under 
the  inspiration  of  his  Spirit,  brings  his  spiritual  people 
into  sympathy  with  one  another,  and  stimulates  and 
guides  the  great  currents  of  sympathy  and  the  large  in- 
terdenominational movements  of  the  catholic  Church, 
and  all  the  various  functions  in  which  is  manifested  the 
"  communion  of  saints." 

From  within,  the  God-man  reigns  supreme  in  every 
Christian  heart.  It  is  impossible  to  accept  Christ  as  our 
Sacrifice  and  Priest  without  at  the  same  time  cordially 
accepting  him  as  our  Prophet,  absolutely  submitting  our 
understanding  to  his  teaching,  and  accepting  him  as  our 
King,  submitting  implicitly  our  hearts  and  wills  and 
lives  to  his  sovereign  control.  Paul  delights  to  call  him- 
self the  uovXoz,  purchased  servant,  of  Jesus  Christ. 
Every  Christian  spontaneously  calls  him  our  Lord  Jesus. 
His  will  is  our  law,  his  love  our  motive,  his  glory  our 
end.  To  obey  his  will,  to  work  in  his  service,  to  fight 
his  battles,  to  triumph  in  his  victories,  is  our  whole  life 
and  joy. 

(2.)  Christ's  kingdom  of  grace  also  embraces  his  visible 
Church.  Although  the  true  Church  is  constituted  simply 
by  the  indwelling  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  although  no 
organization  is  essential  to  its  being  or  coextensive  with 
its  existence,  nevertheless  Christ  wills  that  his  true 
Church  shall,  for  great  practical  ends,  tend  always 
spontaneously  to  organize  itself  in  some  form.  Its 
forms  are  very  various,  determined  in  their  differences 
by  providential  conditions,  and  they  are  of  very  different 
excellence,  and  yet  they  are  all,  whether  better  or  worse, 
forms  of  the  true  Church,  and  therefore  co-ordinate- 
phases   of  the  one  Church.     And   Christ   alone  is  the 


THE  KINGLY  OFFICE  OF  CUEIST.  271 

legitimate  Head  of  tins  visible  Church  in  any  of  its 
.forms  whatsoever.  He  has  appointed  no  vicegerent. 
He  has  forbidden  his  servants  to  be  called  rabbi  or 
master.  He  pronounces  a  curse  upon  those  who  lord 
it  over  his  heritage,  whether  national  sovereigns  or 
universal  patriarchs  or  popes.  He  has  in  his  inspired 
Word  and  through  his  ever-indwelling  Spirit  provided 
for  the  government  of  this  Church  through  all  ages. 
He  has  therein  ordained  the  conditions  of  membership, 
the  laws  and  offices,  and  he  by  his  gracious  providence 
leads  to  the  selection  of  the  right  incumbents.  There  is 
no  doctrine  we  are  bound  to  believe  which  he  has  not 
clearly  revealed  in  his  Word,  nor  any  duty  we  are  bound 
to  fulfill.  The  disciples  of  Christ  are  the  Lord's  freemen, 
discharged  from  all  human  bondage,  because  they  are 
bound  to  render  absolute  obedience  to  him  alone.  It  is 
to  this  principle  that  the  Church  of  Scotland  and  her 
long  line  of  martyrs,  under  Knox,  Melville  and  Chal- 
mers, have  borne  such  a  noble  testimony.  The  Covenant 
bound  Scotland  and  Puritan  England  to  live  or  to  die 
by  Christ's  crown  and  covenant. 

Christ  declared  that  his  kingdom  is  "  not  of  this 
world " — that  it  is  not  one  kingdom  associated  with 
the  other  kingdoms,  with  like  organizations,  laws, 
methods  of  administration  and  ends.  But  it  is  a 
spiritual  kingdom,  embracing  and  interpenetrating  all 
others,  so  different  in  method  and  ends  from  them  that 
it  cannot,  when  loyal  to  its  Head,  interfere  with  any  of 
them  or  enter  into  organic  alliance  with  any  of  them. 
Its  Head,  members,  laws,  officers,  methods,  penalties  and 
rewards  and  ends  are  not  of  this  world,  but  are  spiritual 
— i.  e.  they  are  revealed  and  applied  by  the  Holy  Ghost, 


272  THE  KINGLY  OFFICE  OF  CHRIST. 

and  they  bring  man  into  relation  to  the  great  world  of 
spiritual  realities  which  is  revealed  in  the  Scriptures. 

The  kingdom  of  Christ  therefore  interpenetrates  all 
the  political  commonwealths  of  this  world,  and  all  the 
political  commonwealths  of  this  world  embrace  the 
kingdom  of  Christ.  Like  different  gases,  the  kingdom 
of  Caesar  and  the  kingdom  of  Christ  are  vacuums  to 
each  other.  They  interpenetrate  each  other  in  occupy- 
ing the  same  territory,  and  yet  each  retains  its  own  iden- 
tity and  properties  unchanged.  They  necessarily  affect 
each  other  on  certain  sides,  but  when  properly  adminis- 
tered they  do  not  interfere  with  one  another.  Having 
the  same  subjects,  they  nevertheless  have  entirely  dif- 
ferent ends,  different  agencies,  different  laws  and  different 
methods. 

III.  Christ's  Kingdom  of  Glory. — During  the  present 
age  Christ  is  set  forth  principally  as  a  conquering  Cap- 
tain, reigning  at  the  head  of  his  militant  host,  the  Cap- 
tain of  our  salvation  (Heb.  2  :  10)  and  the  conqueror  of 
his  and  our  enemies  and  the  subduer  of  the  world  (Rev. 
19:  11-16).  But  hereafter  the  Scriptures  reveal  a  final 
consummation,  when  Christ's  kingdom  shall  be  complete 
in  all  its  members  and  shall  be  developed  to  its  perfect 
state — when  all  the  redeemed  shall  be  gathered,  the 
crisis  of  judgment  passed,  the  glorified  bodies  of  the 
saints  reunited  to  their  perfected  spirits:  then  "shall  the 
Son  of  man  sit  in  the  throne  of  his  glory,"  and  "there 
shall  be  no  more  curse ;  but  the  throne  of  God  and  of 
the  Lamb  shall  be  in  it ;  and  his  servants  shall  serve 
him.  And  they  shall  see  his  face ;  and  his  name  shall 
be  in  their  foreheads"  (Rev.  22:  3,  4). 

IV.  But  if  Christ's  mediatorial  kingdom  is,  as  asserted, 


THE  KINGLY  OFFICE  OF  CHRIST.  273 

absolutely  universal— especially  if  his  direct  authority 
embraces  without  exception  every  human  being  on  the 
face  of  the  earth  during  all  ages,  in  all  their  relations 
and  in  all  their  actions — then  the  question  necessarily 
arises,  If  Christ's  kingdom  embraces  every  human  rela- 
tion, how  can  there  be  any  distinction  between  Church 
and  State,  between  the  things  which  belong  unto  Csesar 
and  the  things  that  belong  unto  Christ? 

This  is  a  question  which,  however  simple  in  itself, 
has  continued  to  puzzle  the  minds  of  men  from  the  be- 
ginning, and  this  confusion  of  thought  has  necessarily 
introduced  confusion  and  conflict  of  action. 

Among  the  Jews  the  State  and  the  Church  were  one 
identical  organism,  discharging  both  secular  and  ecclesi- 
astical functions,  in  part  through  the  same  officers  and  in 
part  and  at  times  through  distinct  officers. 

The  answer  given  by  the  Papists,  while  admitting  the 
distinction  touching  Church  and  State,  is  that  as  Christ 
is  King  of  all  men  and  his  authority  is  supreme  in  every 
sphere  of  human  interest  and  action,  the  pope  his  vicar 
reigns  in  his  name  supreme  over  all  earthly  sovereigns ; 
that  the  Catholic  Church,  an  external  organized  body,  is 
in  every  land  supreme  over  the  State,  the  State  being,  in 
truth,  only  a  subordinate  and  changeable  organ  of  the 
Church  for  the  purpose  of  executing  the  functions  of 
temporal  government. 

The  answer  of  the  Erastians,  of  the  State-Church 
systems,  makes  the  State  supreme  over  the  Church,  and 
the  Church  is  practically  regarded  only  as  an  organ  of 
the  State  for  the  purpose  of  effecting  the  functions  of 
religious  institution  and  worship. 

But  the  true  principle  has  in  this  last  age  become  gen- 

18 


274  THE  KINGLY  OFFICE  OF  CHRIST. 

erally  recognized,  that  State  and  Church,  considered  as 
organized  societies  with  laws  and  officers,  have  entirely 
distinct  spheres,  methods  and  objects,  and  hence  that  they 
have  no  specific  organic  relation  to  one  another  whatever. 
They  indeed  embrace  the  same  territory  and  the  same 
personal  constituents.  The  same  men  and  women  who 
in  one  relation  constitute  the  State  in  another  relation 
constitute  the  Church.  The  State  deals  with  the  persons 
and  property  of  Church  members  and  with  the  public 
property  of  ecclesiastical  societies  precisely  as  she  deals 
with  that  of  all  other  persons  and  voluntary  societies, 
and  the  members  of  the  Church  and  ecclesiastical  socie- 
ties owe  precisely  the  same  obedience  to  the  State  that  is 
owed  by  all  other  citizens  and  associations. 

All  this  is  perfectly  clear  and  true,  but  inferences  have 
been  drawn  from  these  principles  which  absolutely  di- 
vorce the  State  from  all  religion  and  emancipate  it  en- 
tirely from  the  mediatorial  authority  of  Jesus  Christ.  It 
is  absurdly  argued  that  if  the  State  is  absolutely  free 
from  any  entangling  alliances  with  the  Church,  it  must 
be  free  from  all  religious  qualities  and  obligations ;  that 
if  it  is  free  from  the  authority  of  the  Church  as  an  or- 
ganized society,  it  must  be  free  from  the  authority  of 
Jesus  Christ,  the  Head  of  the  Church,  and  of  the  Bible, 
which  contains  his  code  of  laws.  It  is  argued  that  as  no 
man  has  any  right  to  impose  his  own  religious  convic- 
tions on  others,  so  no  body  of  men  can  possess  any  such 
right,  and  therefore  that  no  majority  of  citizens  has  the 
right  to  impose  by  State  legislation  upon  a  recalcitrant 
minority  obligations  having  a  religious  origin.  These 
inferences,  however  unwarrantable  and  preposterous,  are 
exceedingly  prevalent,  and  are  admitted,  if  not  proclaimed, 


THE  KINGLY  OFFICE  OF  CHRIST.  275 

by  many  true  Christians  who  are  unconscious  of  their 
absurdity  and  utter  disloyalty  to  the  Lord  that  bought 
them  and  whom  they  profess  to  serve  as  their  King. 

It  is  very  evident  that  it  does  not  follow  because  the 
organized  bodies  we  call  "  churches "  have  no  oro-anic 
connection  with  the  State,  nor  any  right  to  pronounce 
judgment  upon  things  purely  within  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  State,  that  therefore  the  State  has  nothing  to  do  with 
religious  laws  or  obligations.  There  are  three  positions 
here  of  infinite  importance  to  the  Christian  citizens  of 
the  United  States : 

1st.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  every  State  in  the  world 
must  have,  and  has  had,  a  religion  of  some  kind.  The 
State  is  an  association  of  human  beings  for  the  purpose 
of  promoting  and  protecting  the  interests  of  society  with- 
in the  limits  of  secular  life.  The  State  is  the  people 
themselves  acting  in  their  organic  capacity  through  the 
machinery  of  law.  It  is  self-evident,  therefore,  that  the 
State  or  collective  body  must  have  all  the  qualities  which 
belong  to  its  constituent  members.  A  house  is  a  great 
deal  more  than  the  wood  or  brick  or  stone  or  iron  of 
which  it  is  built ;  nevertheless,  every  house  has  the  qual- 
ity of  its  material,  whether  wood  or  brick  or  stone  or 
iron,  and  will  necessarily  act  under  given  circumstances 
as  determined  severally  by  the  nature  of  its  material. 
So  every  State  is  vastly  more  than  the  persons  of  which 
it  is  composed ;  nevertheless,  the  character  of  the  State 
must  in  every  respect  be  determined  by  the  character  of 
the  people  which  constitute  it.  If  the  people  are  rational 
the  State  will  be  rational ;  if  moral,  then  moral ;  if  rich 
or  energetic,  then  it  will  possess  those  qualities ;  and, 
none  the  less,  if  the  people  be  religious  will  the  State 


276  THE  KINGLY  OFFICE  OF  CHRIST. 

they  compose  be  religious.  It  is  simply  absurd  that  a 
mau  can  be  thoroughly  convinced  that  God  exists  and 
that  he  is  a  Moral  Governor  who  will  demand  an  account 
for  all  the  deeds  done  in  the  body — that  he  can  have  his 
heart  full  of  loyal  affection  and  devotion  to  God  as  an 
individual  while  engaged  in  private  business,  and  then 
be  perfectly  oblivious  of  the  existence  and  of  the  claims 
of  God  as  soon  as  he  begins  to  act  politically  as  a  citizen 
of  the  State.  If  a  man  knows  that  God  has  forbidden 
theft,  or  incest,  or  divorce  except  on  certain  conditions, 
or  the  pursuit  of  worldly  business  on  the  weekly  Sab- 
bath, he  cannot  as  a  citizen  do  otherwise  than  make  and 
execute  laws  in  conformity  to  the  known  will  of  God. 
If  a  State  in  its  public  law  acts  atheistically,  it  can  only 
be  because  a  majority  of  its  citizens  are  in  heart  atheists, 
no  matter  what  religious  professions  they  may  make. 
Middle  ground,  a  negative  position,  is  absolutely  impos- 
sible. God  is  either  recognized  or  denied,  he  is  either 
carefully  obeyed  or  rebelliously  disobeyed;  and  this  im- 
possibility of  a  negative  position  is  just  as  true  in  polit- 
ical societies  and  in  their  conduct  as  in  any  other  depart- 
ment of  human  life.  Every  nation  has  a  religion  or  is 
positively,  aggressively  atheistic ;  indifference  is  antagOr 
nism. 

2d.  Every  Christian  must  believe  that  the  State  ought 
to  be  obedient  to  the  revealed  law  of  Christ.  This  is  so 
because — (1)  the  Word  of  God  explicitly  declares  that 
"  the  powers  that  be  are  ordained  of  God ;"  that  "  rulers 
are  ministers  of  God  to  us  for  good ;"  that  "  whoever 
resisteth  the  power,  resisteth  the  ordinance  of  God" 
(Rom.  13  : 1-4).  (2)  Because  Christ  himself  explicitly 
declared  that  to  him  as  Mediator  all  power  (isouaca, 


THE  KINGLY  OFFICE  OF  CHRIST.  277 

right  of  dominion)  in  heaven  and  on  earth  had  been  com- 
mitted (Matt.  28  :  18).  He  is  thus  made  "  Lord  of  lords 
and  King  of  kings."  (3)  Because  the  Christian  revela- 
tion expressed  in  the  inspired  Scriptures  expresses  the 
will  of  Christ  upon  many  subjects  in  which  it  can  be 
carried  out  only  through  the  agency  of  the  State  and  of 
her  laws  and  officers.  The  State  must  pronounce  her 
will  as  to  the  rest  of  the  Sabbath  day,  as  to  marriage 
and  divorce,  as  to  the  rights  of  property  and  the  rela- 
tions of  capital  and  labor,  as  to  capital  punishment  and 
as  to  the  education  of  the  young.  The  ground  covered 
by  these  subjects  the  State  cannot  possibly  avoid.  And 
it  is  equally  impossible  for  a  Christian  man,  who  knows 
the  will  of  Christ  as  to  the  points  in  question,  to  ignore 
or  disobey  that  will  when  acting  in  the  capacity  of  a  citi- 
zen of  the  State.  If  he  does  do  so,  he  is  consciously  guilty 
of  direct  disloyalty  to  his  Lord.  All  intelligent  and 
honest  Christians  must  seek  to  bring  all  the  action  of  the 
political  society  to  which  they  belong  obedient  to  the  re- 
vealed will  of  Christ  the  supreme  King,  the  Ruler 
among  the  nations.  The  Church  and  the  State  are  mu- 
tually, entirely  independent.  The  officers  and  the  laws 
of  the  one  have  no  jurisdiction  within  the  sphere  of  the 
other.  Nevertheless,  Christ  is  the  common  King  of 
each,  and  his  Bible  is  the  common  statute-book  of  each. 
The  only  difference  is,  that  under  the  one  and  selfsame 
King,  Christ,  the  light  of  nature  is  the  primary,  the 
word  of  Scripture  the  supplementary,  law  of  the  State ; 
while  the  word  of  revelation  is  the  primary  and  the  light 
of  nature  the  sujjplementary  law  of  the  Church.  But 
Christ  and  conscience  and  the  Bible  rule  equally  in  each 
sphere. 


278  THE  KINGLY  OFFICE  OF  CHRIST. 

3d.  These  United  States  of  North  America  are,  and 
from  the  beginning  were,  of  law,  of  right  and  of  actual 
fact,  a  Christian  nation.  The  original  colonies  were  set- 
tled by  bodies  of  men  of  conspicuous  Christian  character, 
who  emigrated  from  their  European  homes  for  religious 
reasons.  They  were  Puritans,  Huguenots,  Scotch,  Scotch- 
Irish,  Dutch  aud  German  Presbyterians,  Quakers,  Epis- 
copalians and  Roman  Catholics,  but  all  alike  Christians. 
Beyond  any  other  equally  various  and  numerous  set  of 
men  known  in  human  history,  they  were  earnest  Chris- 
tians,  and  they  came  here  for  the  very  purpose  of  crystal- 
lizing their  faith  in  imperishable  institutions.  These 
men  subdued  the  wilderness,  founded  the  nation  and 
laid  all  the  foundation-stones  of  our  constitutional  law. 
The  common  law  of  England,  the  creature  of  Christian- 
ity, is  the  common  law  of  nine-tenths  of  our  States  and 
Territories.  Christian  denominations,  Episcopal  or  Inde- 
pendent, were  established  by  law  in  almost  all  the  early 
colonies.  Theism  is  recognized  explicitly  in  almost  all  our 
State  constitutions,  and  Christianity  in  many  of  them. 
Christianity  has  been  recognized  from  the  first  by  explicit 
action  in  the  appointment  of  chaplains  for  Congress  and 
for  the  army  and  navy  of  the  United  States  and  for  the 
legislatures  and  prisons  of  the  several  States ;  by  the 
appointment  of  fast-days  and  of  thanksgiving-days  by 
the  supreme  magistrates  of  the  several  States  and  of  the 
nation  ;  and  by  the  enactment  of  the  Sabbath  laws  and 
of  the  laws  for  the  suppression  of  blasphemy.  What  was 
true  at  the  first  has  been  becoming  more  and  more  true 
to  the  actual  fact  ever  since.  Nearly  one-half  of  all  the 
actual  adult  population  of  the  country  are  communicants 
in  the  Christian  churches.     The  ratio  of  the  communi- 


THE  KINGLY  OFFICE  OF  CHRIST.  279 

canis  in  our  evangelical  churches  to  the  whole  population 
was  in  1800  as  1  to  every  14.50  of  all  ages;  in  1850 
it  was  as  1  to  every  6.57;  in  1870,  as  1  to  every  5.78; 
and  in  1880,  1  to  every  5  of  the  total  inhabitants;  while 
in  the  mean  time  between  six  and  seven  millions  of  our 
Roman  Catholic  fellow-Christians  have  come  into  exist- 
ence. From  1800  to  1880  the  whole  population  of  the 
nation  has  increased  9.46  fold,  while  in  the  same  time  the 
communicants  of  our  evangelical  churches  have  increased 
27.52  fold. 

There  are  not  two  laws  for  individuals  and  for  com- 
munities. The  obligations  which  bind  individuals  neces- 
sarily bind  all  the  communities  which  these  individuals 
constitute.  Every  human  being  is  bound  to  be  Chris- 
tian ;  therefore  every  community  of  human  beings  is 
bound  to  obey  the  law  of  Christ.  The  United  States, 
as  a  matter  of  historic  fact,  have  always  professed  to  be 
a  Christian  State,  and  we  are  therefore  doubly  bound  to 
this  allegiance — (1)  by  virtue  of  the  common  obligation 
which  binds  all  men ;  (2)  by  virtue  of  the  special  oppor- 
tunities and  covenants  of  our  ancestors,  which  descend 
upon  us  by  natural  inheritance. 

V.  The  overwhelming  importance  of  this  principle  and 
weight  of  this  obligation  appear  in  the  clearest  light  the 
moment  the  nation  claims  to  regulate  the  supreme  function 
of  education.  It  is  insisted  upon  that  the  right  of  self- 
preservation  is  the  highest  law  of  States  as  well  as  of 
individuals ;  that  if  the  suffrage  is  universal,  all  holders 
of  that  suffrage  must  be  educated  in  order  to  secure  the 
safety  of  the  State ;  that  in  consequence  of  the  hetero- 
geneous character  of  our  population  and  the  divisions 
of  the  Christian  Church  there  is  no  agency  in  existence 


280  THE  KINGLY  OFFICE  OF  CHRIST. 

competent  to  educate  the  whole  body  of  the  holders  of 
the  universal  suffrage  except  the  State  herself. 

The  situation,  therefore,  stands  thus : 

1st.  The  tendency  of  the  entire  system,  in  which 
already  vast  progress  has  been  made,  is  to  centraliza- 
tion. Each  State  governs  her  own  system  of  common 
schools  by  a  central  agency,  which  brings  them,  for  the 
sake  of  greater  efficiency,  into  uniformity  of  method  and 
rules.  These  schools  are  graded  and  supplemented  by 
normal  schools,  high  schools  and  crowned  by  the  State 
university.  The  tendency  is  to  unite  all  these  school 
systems  of  the  several  States  in  one  uniform  national 
system,  providing  with  all  the  abundant  resources  of 
the  nation  for  the  entire  education  of  its  citizens  in 
every  department  of  human  knowledge,  and  in  doing 
this  to  establish  a  uniform  curriculum  of  study,  uniform 
standards  for  the  selection  of  teachers  and  a  uniform 
school  literary  apparatus  of  textbooks,  etc. 

2d.  The  tendency  is  to  hold  that  this  system  must  be 
altogether  secular.  The  atheistic  doctrine  is  gaining  cur- 
rency, even  among  professed  Christians  and  even  among 
some  bewildered  Christian  ministers,  that  an  education 
provided  by  the  common  government  for  the  children  of 
diverse  religious  parties  should  be  entirely  emptied  of  all 
religious  character.  The  Protestants  object  to  the  gov- 
ernment schools  being  used  for  the  purpose  of  inculcating 
the  doctrines  of  the  Catholic  Church,  and  Romanists 
object  to  the  use  of  the  Protestant  version  of  the  Bible 
and  to  the  inculcation  of  the  peculiar  doctrines  of  the 
Protestant  churches.  The  Jews  protest  against  the 
schools  being  used  to  inculcate  Christianity  in  any  form, 
and  the  atheists  and  agnostics  protest  against  any  teach- 


THE  KINGLY  OFFICE  OF  CHRIST.  281 

ing  that  implies  the  existence  and  moral  government  of 
God.  It  is  capable  of  exact  demonstration  that  if  every 
party  in  the  State  has  the  right  of  excluding  from  the 
public  schools  whatever  he  does  not  believe  to  be  true, 
then  he  that  believes  most  must  give  way  to  him  that 
believes  least,  and  then  he  that  believes  least  must  give 
way  to  him  that  believes  absolutely  nothing,  no  matter 
in  how  small  a  minority  the  atheists  or  the  agnostics  may 
be.  It  is  self-evident  that  on  this  scheme,  if  it  is  con- 
sistently and  persistently  carried  out  in  all  parts  of  the 
country,  the  United  States  system  of  national  popular 
education  will  be  the  most  efficient  and  wide  instrument 
for  the  propagation  of  Atheism  which  the  world  has  ever 
seen. 

3d.  The  claim  of  impartiality  between  positions  as 
directly  contradictory  as  that  of  Jews,  Mohammedans 
and  Christians,  and  especially  as  that  of  theists  and  of 
atheists,  is  evidently  absurd.  And  no  less  is  the  claim 
absurd  and  impossible  that  a  system  of  education  can  be 
indifferent  on  these  fundamental  subjects.  There  is  no 
possible  branch  of  human  knowledge  which  is  not  purely 
formal,  like  abstract  logic  or  mathematics,  which  can  be 
known  or  taught  in  a  spirit  of  entire  iudiiferency  between 
Theism  and  Atheism.  Every  department  which  deals 
with  realities,  either  principles,  objective  things  or  sub- 
stances, or  with  events,  must  be  in  reality  one  or  the 
other  ;  if  it  be  not  positively  and  confessedly  theistic,  it 
must  be  really  and  in  full  effect  atheistic.  The  physical 
as  well  as  the  moral  universe  must  be  conceived  either  in 
a  theistic  or  an  atheistic  light.  It  must  originate  in  and 
develop  through  intelligent  will — that  is,  in  a  person — or 
in  atoms,  force  or  chance.     Teleology  must  be  acknowl- 


282  THE  KINGLY  OFFICE  OF  CHRIST. 

edged  everywhere  or  be  denied  everywhere.  Philosophy, 
ethics,  jurisprudence,  political  and  social  science,  can  be 
conceived  of  and  treated  only  from  a  theistic  or  from 
an  atheistic  point  of  view.  The  proposal  to  treat  them 
from  a  neutral  point  of  view  is  ignorant  and  absurd. 
English  common  law  is  unintelligible  if  not  read  in  the 
light  of  that  religion  in  which  it  had  its  genesis.  The 
English  language  cannot  be  sympathetically  understood 
or  taught  by  a  mind  blind  to  the  everywhere-present 
current  of  religious  thought  and  life  which  expresses 
itself  through  its  terms.  The  history  of  Christendom, 
especially  the  history  of  the  English-speaking  races,  and 
the  philosophy  of  history  in  general,  will  prove  an  utterly 
insoluble  riddle  to  all  who  attempt  to  read  it  in  any  non- 
theistic,  religiously-indifferent  sense.  It  is  certain  that 
throughout  the  entire  range  of  the  higher  education  a 
position  of  entire  indifferentism  is  an  absolute  impossi- 
bility— that  along  the  entire  line  the  relation  of  man  and 
of  the  universe  to  the  ever-present  God,  the  supreme  Lord 
of  the  conscience  and  heart,  the  non-affirmation  of  the 
truth,  is  entirely  equivalent  to  the  affirmation  at  every 
point  of  its  opposite. 

The  prevalent  superstition  that  men  can  be  educated 
for  good  citizenship  or  for  any  other  use  under  heaven 
without  religion  is  as  unscientific  and  unphilosophical  as 
it  is  irreligious.  It  deliberately  leaves  out  of  view  the 
most  essential  and  controlling  elements  of  human  char 
acter :  that  man  is  constitutionally  as  religious  (i.  e.  loy- 
ally or  disloyally)  as  he  is  rational ;  that  morals  are  im- 
possible when  dissociated  from  the  religious  basis  out  of 
which  they  grow ;  that,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  human  liberty 
and  stable  republican  institutions,  and  every  practically 


THE  KINGLY  OFFICE  OF  CHRIST.  283 

successful  scheme  of  universal  education  in  all  past  his- 
tory, have  originated  in  the  active  ministries  of  the 
Christian  religion,  and  in  these  alone.  This  miserable 
superstition  rests  upon  no  facts  of  experience,  and,  on 
the  contrary,  is  maintained  on  purely  theoretical  grounds 
in  opposition  to  all  the  lessons  wltich  the  past  history  of 
our  race  furnishes  on  the  subject. 

It  is  no  answer  to  say  that  the  deficiency  of  the  national 
system  of  education  in  this  regard  will  be  adequately  sup- 
plied by  the  activities  of  the  Christian  churches.  No  court 
would  admit  in  excuse  for  the  diffusion  of  poison  the  plea 
that  the  poisoner  knew  of  another  agent  actively  employed 
in  diffusing  an  antidote.  Moreover,  the  churches,  divided 
and  without  national  recognition,  would  be  able  very  in- 
adequately to  counteract  the  deadly  evil  done  by  the 
public  schools  of  the  State  with  all  the  resources  and 
prestige  of  the  government.  But,  more  than  all,  Athe- 
ism taught  in  the  school  cannot  be  counteracted  by 
Theism  taught  in  the  Church.  Theism  and  Atheism 
cannot  coalesce  to  make  anything.  All  truth  in  all 
spheres  is  organically  one  and  vitally  inseparable.  It  is 
impossible  for  different  agencies  independently  to  discuss 
and  inculcate  the  religious  and  the  purely  naturalistic 
sides  of  truth  respectively.  They  cannot  be  separated ; 
in  some  degree  they  must  recognize  each  other  and  be 
taught  together,  as  they  are  experienced  in  their  natural 
relations. 

I  am  as  sure  as  I  am  of  the  fact  of  Christ's  reign  that 
a  comprehensive  and  centralized  system  of  national  edu- 
cation, separated  from  religion,  as  is  now  commonly  pro- 
posed, will  prove  the  most  appalling  enginery  for  the 
propagation  of  anti-Christian  and  atheistic  unbelief,  and 


284  THE  KINGLY  OFFICE  OF  CHRIST. 

of  auti-social  nihilistic  ethics,  individual,  social  and 
political,  which  this  sin-rent  world  has  ever  seen. 

"VI.  The  allegiance  we  owe  is  not  to  a  doctrine,  but  to 
a  Person,  the  God-man,  our  mediatorial  King.  We  are 
bound  to  obey  the  Bible  in  all  our  actions  and  relations 
as  citizens  as  well  as  church-members,  because  it  is  the 
law  he  has  promulgated  as  the  rule  of  our  action,  and 
because  he  is  our  supreme  Lord  and  Master.  The  foun- 
dation of  his  authority  is  not  our  election,  but  the  facts 
that  he  is  absolutely  perfect  and  worthy  of  absolute  trust 
and  obedience,  and  that  he  has  created  us,  continues  to 
uphold  us  in  being,  supplies  us  with  all  that  makes 
existence  desirable,  and  that  he  redeemed  us  from  the 
wrath  of  God  by  his  blood.  His  authority  therefore 
does  not  depend  upon  our  faith  or  our  profession.  It 
binds  the  atheist  and  the  debauchee  as  much  as  the  believer 
or  the  saint.  No  man  can  plead  immunity  because  he  is 
an  unbeliever.  Nor  can  we  who  are  believers  be  ex- 
cused from  the  consistent  ordering  of  our  whole  lives 
according  to  his  revealed  will  because  the  majority  of 
our  fellow-citizens  disagree  with  us.  Let  others  do  as 
they  will ;  as  for  us  and  for  our  houses,  we  will  serve 
the  Lord. 

And  if  Christ  is  Lord  of  lords  and  King  of  kings, 
if  he  is  really  the  Ruler  among  the  nations,  then  all 
nations  are  in  a  higher  sense  one  nation,  under  one  King, 
one  law,  having  one  interest  and  one  end.  There  can- 
not be  two  laws  for  Christians — one  to  govern  the  rela- 
tions of  individuals,  and  the  other  the  relations  of  na- 
tions. We  must  love  our  neighbor-man  as  ourselves,  so 
the  Master  says  ;  therefore  wre  must  love  our  neighbor- 
nation  as  our  own.     The   rivalries,  jealousies,  antago- 


THE  KINGLY  OFFICE  OF  CHRIST.  285 

nisms  and  cruel  wars  between  nations  are  all  hideous  frat- 
ricidal contests  and  satanic  rebellions  against  Christ  our 
common  King.  How  miserably  small  and  narrow  and 
selfish  is  the  form  of  so-called  patriotism  which  our 
poor  children  are  taught  is  so  great  a  virtue,  in  com- 
parison with  that  holy,  uplifting  passion  which  compre- 
hends all  nations  as  inseparable  parts  of  the  one  living 
universal  kingdom  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus 
Christ !  Suppose  your  enterprise  in  the  great  competi- 
tions of  manufacture  and  trade  surpasses  theirs,  and  you 
grow  rich  and  gild  your  palaces  with  the  spoils  of  their 
poverty  ;  suppose  your  sinews  of  war  or  your  personal 
prowess  and  valor  surpass  theirs,  and  your  empire  grows 
great  out  of  the  ruins  of  their  commonwealth, — what  are 
you,  after  all,  but  the  betrayer  of  your  brother's  peace  or 
the  destroyer  of  your  brother's  life  and  the  disloyal  ren- 
der of  the  body  of  your  common  Lord  ?  Alas,  that  we 
have  yet  to  learn  that  the  so-called  code  of  honor  among 
nations  is  just  as  mean  and  vulgar  a  thing  as  the  code  of 
honor  .among  individuals ! 

And  if  Christ  is  really  King,  exercising  original  and 
immediate  jurisdiction  over  the  State  as  really  as  he  does 
over  the  Church,  it  follows  necessarily  that  the  general 
denial  or  neglect  of  his  rightful  lordship,  any  prevalent 
refusal  to  obey  that  Bible  which  is  the  open  lawbook 
of  his  kingdom,  must  be  followed  by  political  and  social 
as  well  as  by  moral  and  religious  ruin.  If  professing 
Christians  are  unfaithful  to  the  authority  of  their  Lord 
in  their  capacity  as  citizens  of  the  State,  they  cannot  ex- 
pect to  be  blessed  by  the  indwelling  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
in  their  capacity  as  members  of  the  Church.  The  king- 
dom of  Christ  is  one,  and  cannot  be  divided  in  life  or  in 


286  THE  KINGLY  OFFICE  OF  CHRIST. 

death.  If  the  Church  languishes,  the  State  cauuot  be  in 
health,  and  if  the  State  rebels  against  its  Lord  and  King, 
the  Church  cannot  enjoy  his  favor.  If  the  Holy  Ghost 
is  withdrawn  from  the  Church,  he  is  not  present  in  the 
State;  and  if  he,  the  only  "Lord,  the  Giver  of  life,"  be 
absent,  then  all  order  is  impossible  and  the  elements  of 
society  lapse  backward  to  primeval  night  and  chaos. 

Who  is  responsible  for  the  unholy  laws  and  customs 
of  divorce  which  have  been  in  late  years  growing  rapid- 
ly, like  a  constitutional  cancer,  through  all  our  social 
fabric  ?  Who  is  responsible  for  the  rapidly-increasing, 
almost  universal,  desecration  of  our  ancestral  Sabbath  ? 
Who  is  responsible  for  the  prevalent  corruptions  in  trade 
which  loosen  the  bands  of  faith  and  transform  the  halls 
of  the  honest  trader  into  the  gambler's  den  ?  Who  is 
responsible  for  the  new  doctrines  of  secular  education 
which  hand  over  the  very  baptized  children  of  the 
Church  to  a  monstrous  propagandism  of  Naturalism  and 
Atheism  ?  Who  is  responsible  for  the  new  doctrine  that 
the  State  is  not  a  creature  of  God  and  owes  him  no  alle- 
giance, thus  making  the  mediatorial  Headship  of  Christ 
an  unsubstantial  shadow  and  his  kingdom  an  unreal 
dream  ? 

Whence  come  these  portentous  upheavals  of  the  an- 
cient primitive  rock  upon  which  society  has  always 
rested?  Whence  comes  this  socialistic  earthquake,  ar- 
raying capital  and  labor  in  irreconcilable  conflict  like 
oxygen  and  fire?  Whence  come  these  mad  nihilistic, 
anarchical  ravings,  the  wild  presages  of  a  universal 
deluge,  which  will  blot  out  at  once  the  family,  the 
school,  the  church,  the  home,  all  civilization  and  re- 
ligion, in  one  sea  of  ruin  ? 


THE  KINGLY  OFFICE  OF  CHRIST.  287 

In  the  name  of  your  own  interests  I  plead  with  you ; 
in  the  name  of  your  treasure-houses  and  barns,  of  your 
rich  farms  and  cities,  of  your  accumulations  in  the  past 
and  your  hopes  in  the  future, — I  charge  you,  you  never 
will  be  secure  if  you  do  not  faithfully  maintain  all  the 
crown-rights  of  Jesus  the  King  of  men.  In  the  name 
of  your  children  and  their  inheritance  of  the  precious 
Christian  civilization  you  in  turn  have  received  from 
your  sires;  in  the  name  of  the  Christian  Church, — I 
charge  you  that  its  sacred  franchise,  religious  liberty, 
cannot  be  retained  by  men  who  in  civil  matters  deny 
their  allegiance  to  the  King.  In  the  name  of  your  own 
soul  and  its  salvation  ;  in  the  name  of  the  adorable  Vic- 
tim of  that  bloody  and  agonizing  sacrifice  whence  you 
draw  all  your  hopes  of  salvation ;  by  Gethsemane  and 
Calvary, — I  charge  you,  citizens  of  the  United  States, 
afloat  on  your  wide  wild  sea  of  politics,  there  is  an- 
other King,  one  Jesus  :  the  safety  of  the  State 
can  be  secured  only  in  the  way  of  humble  and 
whole-souled  loyalty  to  his  person  and  of  obe- 
dience to  his  law. 

"  I  charge  thee  in  the  sight  of  God,  who  quickeneth  all 
things,  and  of  Christ  Jesus,  who  before  Pontius  Pilate 
witnessed  the  good  confession,  that  thou  keep  the  com- 
mandment, without  spot,  without  reproach,  until  the  ap- 
pearing of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ:  which  iu  its  own 
times  he  shall  shew,  who  is  the  blessed  and  only  Poten- 
tate, the  King  of  kings,  and  Lord  of  lords ;  who  only 
hath  immortality,  dwelling  in  light  unapproachable; 
whom  no  man  hath  seen,  nor  can  see ;  to  whom  be  hon- 
or and  power  eternal.     Amen"  (1  Tim.  6  :  13-16). 


LECTURE   XIII. 

THE  KINGDOM  OF  CHRIST. 

We  are  to  examine  this  afternoon  what  is  revealed  in 
Scripture  as  to  the  nature  and  destiny  of  the  kingdom 
of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ.  The  mediatorial 
King  must  of  necessity  have  a  kingdom,  and  the  discus- 
sion of  the  kingdom  appropriately  succeeds  the  discussion 
of  the  royal  office  of  the  King. 

There  is  but  one  kingdom  or  spiritual  realm  in  which 
Christ  reigns  for  ever,  and  which  in  the  end  shall  be  eter- 
nally glorious  in  the  perfect  glory  of  her  King ;  yet  in 
Scripture  there  are  three  distinct  names  used  to  set  forth 
the  excellences  and  the  blessedness  of  that  realm  in  various 
aspects.  Let  it  be  remembered  that  while  these  different 
names  are  never  to  be  confounded,  since  they  differ  from 
one  another  in  flexibility  and  range  of  usage  and  in  the 
aspect  in  which  they  severally  set  forth  the  one  subject,  yet 
they  are  related  to  one  and  the  selfsame  subject.  There- 
fore, the  variety  of  the  names  and  their  usage  should  never 
lead  to  any  confusion  as  to  the  identity  and  singleness  of 
the  object  to  which  they  relate.  They  should,  on  the  con- 
trary, by  their  variety  illustrate  the  many-sided  perfec- 
tions and  relations  of  the  one  kingdom,  growing  more 
glorious  and  powerful  through  all  the  successions  of 
time. 

These  several  names  used  in  Scripture  to  designate 

288 


THE  KINGDOM  OF  CHRIST.  289 

this  one  transcendent  object  on  its  different  sides  and  re- 
lations are  the  Kingdom,  the  Church  and  the  City  of 
God. 

I.  The  word  "  kingdom  "  is  the  first  in  the  order  of 
its  use.  It  is  the  characteristic  word  used  for  this  pur- 
pose almost  exclusively  in  the  Old  Testament.  In  the 
New  Testament  the  word  ".kingdom  "  appears  to  pass 
out  of  frequent  and  prominent  use  precisely  in  propor- 
tion as  the  word  Church  is  advanced  in  these  respects. 
"Kingdom"  is  used  fifty  times  in  Matthew,  and  one 
hundred  and  seventeen  times  in  the  four  Gospels,  only 
eight  times  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  and  only  twenty- 
four  times  in  all  the  Epistles  and  Revelation  ;  while,  on 
the  other  hand,  the  word  "  Church  "  occurs  only  three 
times  in  all  the  Gospels  and  one  hundred  and  five  times 
in  the  Acts,  Epistles  and  Revelation.  The  word  "  king:- 
dom  primarily  signifies  dominion,  control  and  obedience 
to  law.  The  Greek  word  "  Church  "  primarily  signifies 
election,  redemption  out  of  the  mass  of  sinful  and  lost 
men.  The  words  "  city  of  God  "  primarily  emphasize 
the  kingdom  as  central,  as  an  absolute  unit,  as  having 
reached  the  consummate  light  of  civilization,  wealth  and 
power. 

Of  all  these  terms,  the  word  "  kingdom  "  is  the  most 
flexible  and  has  the  widest  range  in  its  New  Testament 
usage.  It  is  naturally  and  properly  used  in  three  special 
senses :  (1)  In  the  sense  of  "realm  "  or  sphere  of  domin- 
ion. Thus  we  habitually  use  the  phrase  "the  kingdom  of 
England "  when  we  intend  to  signify  the  geographical 
division  with  its  known  political  boundaries  and  its  in- 
habitants. In  this  way  the  Xew  Testament  habitually 
uses  the  phrase  "  the  kingdom  of  God  "  or  "  of  Christ " 

19 


290  THE  KINGDOM  OF  CHRIST. 

or  "of  heaven"  to  signify  the  realm  over  which  the 
government  of  Christ  extends,  the  subjects  of  his  king- 
dom in  their  relation  to  his  government.  In  this  sense 
men  are  said  to  enter  the  kingdom — that  is,  to  become 
subjects  of  it  and  participants  of  the  benefits  which  be- 
long to  all  its  loyal  subjects.  In  this  sense  of  "realm  " 
or  subjects  of  Christ's  dominion  the  word  kingdom  is 
coincident  in  its  meaning  with  the  word  Church  in  its 
strictest  sense  and  widest  comprehension.  (2)  The  word 
kingdom  is  habitually  used  alike  in  the  language  of 
Scripture  and  of  secular  life  in  the  sense  of  "  reign  "  or 
of  the  exercise  of  royal  authority.  Thus  when  Charles 
I.  was  deposed  in  England  and  the  office  of  king  abol- 
ished, and  the  protectorate  of  Oliver  Cromwell  set  up  in  its 
place,  historians  say  that  "  the  kingdom  "  was  abolished 
and  the  Commonwealth  set  up.  Again,  when  Oliver 
died  and  his  son  and  successor  was  forced  to  abdicate, 
and  Charles  II.  was  brought  back  and  set  upon  his  in- 
herited throne,  historians  say  the  Commonwealth  was 
abolished  and  "  the  kingdom  "  was  restored.  Thus,  in 
this  sense  of  "  reign,"  the  Scriptures  use  the  word  "  king- 
dom" when  they  say  "the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand," 
or  when  we  are  taught  to  pray  "  thy  kingdom  come." 
And  (3)  alike  in  the  usage  of  Scripture  and  of  that  of 
daily  life  we  use  the  word  "  kingdom "  to  signify  the 
benefits  or  blessings  which  result  from  the  beneficent  ex- 
ercise of  royal  authority.  Thus,  while  preparing  for  the 
coup  d'etat,  Napoleon  III.  said  in  a  public  address  at 
Lyons,  "The  empire  is  peace" — i.  e.  universal  peace  will 
be  the  policy  and  effect  of  the  imperial  regime  which  I 
propose  to  introduce.  Iu  like  manner,  Paul  uses  the 
word  when  he  says  (Rom.  14  :  17),  "  For  the  kingdom 


THE  KINGDOM  OF  CHRIST.  291 

of  God  is  not  meat  and  drink  " — i  e.  the  reign  of  Christ 
does  not  express  itself  in  that  kind  of  activity — "  but 
righteousness,  and  peace,  and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost : " 
these  are  the  characters  of  his  realm  because  the  results 
of  his  reign. 

II.  The  first  question  here  is  concerning  the  nature 
and  extent  of  this  "kingdom"  and  the  method  of  its 
"  coming."  After  that  we  will  consider  the  biblical  doc- 
trine of  the  Church,  and  lastly  that  of  the  "  city  of  God." 

If  Adam  had  not  apostatized  the  entire  course  of 
human  history  would  have  been  a  normal  development 
in  fellowship  with  God.  The  central  principle  of  loyalty 
to  God  having  been  preserved  intact,  the  whole  moral 
nature  of  man  would  have  grown  healthily,  and  all  his 
faculties  in  all  their  exercises,  and  all  his  relations  with 
his  fellows,  would  have  been  correspondingly  normal. 
But  since  sin  introduced  rebellion  against  the  supreme 
authority  of  God  the  human  character  has  been  radically 
corrupted  and  human  society  disorganized.  This  ha? 
subjected  the  entire  race  in  all  spheres  of  its  activity 
to  the  dominion  of  a  malign  spiritual  empire  compre- 
hending the  whole  world,  over  which  presides  "the 
prince  of  the  power  of  the  air,"  the  "  prince  or  god 
of  this  world."  And,  being  thus  alienated  from  the 
centre  of  all  life,  the  entire  subsequent  course  of  the 
development  of  man's  moral  character  and  social  con- 
dition has  been,  in  the  absence  of  a  supernatural  inter- 
vention, continuously  in  the  direction  of  greater  and 
greater  corruption  and  disorder. 

In  consequence  of  this  state  of  facts  the  God  of 
heaven  has  set  up  a  kingdom  in  antagonism  to  the  king- 
dom of  Satan  and  to  all  temporal  kingdoms  organized 


292  THE  KINGDOM  OF  CHRIST. 

in  Satan's  interest,  which  kingdom  shall  never  be  de- 
stroyed, but,  breaking  in  pieces  all  its  antagonists,  shall 
stand  for  ever.  This  kingdom  of  the  God  of  heaven 
was  introduced  immediately  after  the  Fall,  and  is  to  be 
consummated  in  the  eternal  city  of  God  which  shall 
descend  out  of  heaven  at  the  last  day.  It  has  been 
mediatorial  from  the  beginning,  administered  at  first  in 
the  hand  of  the  unincarnate  eternal  Word  of  God,  and 
afterward  in  the  hands  of  the  incarnate  Word.  It  was 
symbolized  in  the  throne  of  David  in  Jerusalem  and  the 
Jewish  theocracy,  and  it  was  visibly  set  up  in  its  higher 
spiritual  form  when  the  long-promised  Son  of  David, 
having  redeemed  his  people  on  the  cross,  rose  from  the 
dead,  ascended  to  the  heavens  and  sat  down  at  the  right 
hand  of  God.  This  kingdom  is  not  one  among  the 
many  competing  kingdoms  of  the  earth.  It  is  antago- 
nistic to  the  kingdom  of  Satan  only:  all  the  natural 
kingdoms  of  men,  except  in  so  far  as  they  are  compro- 
mised with  the  kingdom  of  Satan,  are  penetrated  and 
assimilated  and  rendered  subservient  to  its  own  ends  by 
the  kingdom  of  God.  All  other  kingdoms  have  their 
rise,  progress,  maturity  and  decadence,  while  this  king- 
dom alone  is  eternal,  growing  broader  and  waxing  strong- 
er through  all  ages  until  its  consummation  in  the  city 
of  God. 

It  is  essentially  distinguished  from  all  the  kingdoms 
of  the  world  whatsoever  by  its  origin,  its  nature,  its 
end,  its  method  of  development,  its  eternal  continuance. 
(1)  It  necessarily  rests  upon  a  basis  of  redemption  by 
blood.  The  atonement  on  Calvary  is  its  essential  pre- 
requisite, for  in  its  highest  development  "  a  Lamb  as  it 
had  been  slain "  stood  in  the  midst  of  the  throne.     (2) 


THE  KINGDOM  OF  CHRIST.  293 

It  is  built  up  and  constituted  not  by  natural  forces,  but 
by  the  supernatural  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  directing, 
using  and  overruling  all  natural  forces  to  the  accomplish- 
ment of  his  own  ends.  (3)  The  sphere  of  this  divine 
reign  is  not  in  the  first  instance  external  relations  and 
conduct,  but  primarily  the  essential  character,  the  per- 
manent state  of  the  heart  in  its  ultimate  springs  of  action 
as  discerned  by  the  all-seeing  eye  of  God.  And  it 
extends  to  all  external  relations  and  actions  whatso- 
ever, as  these  are  the  streams  which  proceed  from  and 
reveal  the  essential  state  of  the  heart.  (4)  The  central 
principle  of  this  kingdom,  which  determines  all  its  other 
conditions  and  requirements,  is  the  absolute  loyalty  of 
the  hearts  of  all  its  subjects  to  the  person  of  the  King. 
Any  service  rendered  from  any  inferior  motive  than 
this  is  essential  rebellion.  But  this  supreme  motive  is 
to  take  possession  of  the  entire  person  and  to  absorb  all 
his  life.  If  any  man  would  be  a  subject  of  this  king- 
dom, "  and  hate  not  his  father  and  mother  and  wife  and 
children  and  brethren  and  sisters,  yea  and  his  own  life 
also,"  he  cannot  be  accepted  as  such.  And  this  all- 
absorbing  principle  of  absolute  loyalty  is  to  dominate  all 
other  springs  of  action  and  mould  the  entire  life  and  all 
the  relations  which  the  individual  sustains  to  the  whole 
body.  (5)  It  is  essentially  a  kingdom  of  righteousness. 
On  the  foundation  of  supreme  loyalty  to  God  its  reign 
effects  the  establishment  of  all  righteousness  in  all  the 
relations  the  individual  sustains  to  God  and  to  his  fel- 
lows. Rooted  in  the  theological  virtues  of  faith,  hope, 
love,  it  enforces  all  the  moral  virtues  known  among 
heathen  or  Christian  men — true  manhood  in  all  its  ele- 
ments of  truth,  bravery,  purity,  generosity,  magnanimity. 


294  THE  KINGDOM  OF  CHRIST. 

It  embraces  the  man  and  woman  as  individuals,  and  the 
perfectly  ordered  family  and  community,  and  all  ec- 
clesiastical and  political  societies.  It  comprehends  all 
the  virtue  and  sets  its  seal  of  reprobation  upon  all 
moral  evil ;  its  demands  in  all  the  departments  of  moral 
character  or  action  never  fall  short  of  absolute  perfec- 
tion. (6)  Its  condition  of  citizenship  is  the  new  birth 
or  spiritual  regeneration  of  each  subject  by  the  recreative 
power  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  The  King  himself  has  said, 
"  Except  a  man  be  born  again  he  cannot  see  the  kingdom 
of  God."  This  supernatural  change  of  nature  is  in  each 
case  the  origin  of  a  supernatural  life,  both  internal  of 
faith  and  love,  and  external  of  holy  obedience.  (7)  This 
kingdom  is  neither  a  republic  nor  a  democracy,  but  an 
absolute  monarchy  and  an  ordered  aristocracy.  The 
King  possesses  all  perfections,  human  and  divine,  in 
absolute  fullness.  All  authority  and  dominion,  alike 
legislative  and  executive,  descend  upon  the  subject  from 
above.  The  Sovereign  selects  his  subjects,  and  not  the 
subjects  the  Sovereign.  Each  subject  in  the  economy  of 
the  kingdom  will  have  his  own  peculiar  grade,  status 
and  function.  As  in  the  heavens  one  star  differeth  from 
another  star  in  glory,  so  will  it  be  in  the  resurrection 
(1  Cor.  15  :  41).  The  members  of  the  one  body  include 
the  hands  and  the  feet  and  the  head.  Some  shall  sit 
with  their  Lord  on  thrones  judging  the  twelve  tribes  of 
Israel.  (8)  But  the  conditions  of  reward  in  this  king- 
dom and  of  promotion  to  influence  and  power  will  be 
the  opposite  of  all  those  which  have  prevailed  in  the 
kingdoms  of  this  world.  It  is  "not  by  blood,  nor  of  the 
will  of  the  flesh,  nor  of  the  will  of  man,  but  of  God." 
The  King  has   said,    "Ye   know  that  the   princes   of 


THE  KINGDOM  OF  CHRIST.  295 

the  Gentiles  exercise  dominion  over  them,  and  they  that 
are  great  exercise  authority  upon  them.  But  it  shall  not 
be  so  among  you  :  but  whosoever  will  be  great  among 
you,  let  him  be  your  minister;  and  whosoever  will  be 
chief  among  you,  let  him  be  your  servant ;  even  as  the 
Son  of  man  came  not  to  be  ministered  unto,  but  to  min- 
ister, and  to  give  his  life  a  ransom  for  many "  (Matt. 
20  :  25-28).  The  baleful  doctrine  of  human  rights 
which  is  now  turning  all  political  societies  into  pan- 
demoniums is  never  admitted  in  the  kingdom  of  God. 
But  the  sublime  doctrine  of  human  duties  in  its  stead  binds 
all  hearts  and  lives  in  beautiful  harmony  to  the  throne 
of  the  Prince  and  to  the  happiness  of  all  his  subjects. 
(9)  This  kingdom  is  to  endure  for  ever,  gradually  to 
embrace  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth,  and  finally  the 
entire  moral  government  of  God  in  heaven  and  on  earth. 
The  little  stone  which  breaks  the  image  will  become  a 
great  mountain  and  fill  the  whole  earth  (Dan.  2  :  35). 
This  gospel  of  the  kingdom  is  to  be  preached  to  all 
nations.  Then  all  the  kingdoms  of  this  world  shall 
become  the  kingdoms  of  our  Lord  and  of  his  Christ, 
and  he  shall  reign  for  ever  and  ever.  And  in  the  dis- 
pensation of  the  fullness  of  times  all  things,  both  which 
are  in  heaven  and  which  are  on  earth,  are  to  be  gathered 
together  in  one  in  Christ ;  who  is  set  at  the  right  hand 
of  God  in  heavenly  places,  far  above  all  principality  and 
power  and  might  and  dominion,  and  every  name  that  is 
named,  not  only  in  this  world,  but  also  in  that  which  is 
to  come ;  and  all  things  are  put  under  his  feet,  He  only 
being  excepted  that  did  put  all  things  under  him  (Eph. 
1  :  10,  20,  21 ;  1  Cor.  15  :  27). 

III.  The  process  by  which  this  kingdom  grows  through 


296  THE  KINGDOM  OF  CHRIST. 

its  successive  stages  toward  its  ultimate  completion  can 
of  course  be  very  inadequately  understood  by  us.  It 
implies  the  ceaseless  operation  of  the  mighty  power  of 
God  working  through  all  the  forces  and  laws  of  nature 
and  culminating  in  the  supernatural  manifestations  of 
grace  and  of  miracle.  The  Holy  Ghost  is  everywhere 
present,  and  he  works  directly  alike  in  the  ways  we  dis- 
tinguish as  natural  and  as  supernatural — alike  through 
appointed  instruments  and  agencies,  and  immediately  by 
his  direct  personal  power.  The  special  agency  for  the 
building  up  of  this  kingdom  is  the  organized  Christian 
Church  with  its  regular  ministry,  providing  for  the 
preaching  of  the  gospel  and  the  administration  of  the 
sacraments.  The  special  work  of  the  Holy  Ghost  in 
building  up  this  kingdom  is  performed  in  the  regenera- 
tion and  sanctification  of  individuals  through  the  minis- 
try of  the  Church.  But  beyond  this  the  omnipresent 
Holy  Ghost  works  to  the  same  end,  directly  and  indi- 
rectly, in  every  sphere  of  nature  and  of  human  life, 
causing  all  the  historic  movements  of  peoples  and  na- 
tions, of  civilization  and  of  science,  of  political  and  ec- 
clesiastical societies,  to  broaden  and  deepen  the  founda- 
tions and  to  advance  the  growth  and  perfection  of  his 
kingdom.  Thus  this  kingdom  from  the  beginning  and 
in  the  whole  circle  of  human  history  has  been  always 
coming.  Its  coming  has  been  marked  by  great  epochs, 
when  new  revelations  and  new  communications  of  divine 
power  have  been  imported  from  without  into  the  current 
of  human  history.  The  chiefest  of  these  have  been  the 
giving  of  the  law,  the  incarnation,  crucifixion,  resurrec- 
tion, ascension  and  session  of  the  King  on  the  right 
hand  of  the  Father,  and  the  mission  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 


THE  KINGDOM  OF  CHRIST.  297 

Yet  the  kingdom  has  been  always  coming  every  moment 
of  all  the  years  that  have  passed.     In  all  the  growing 
of  the  seeds  and  all  the  blowing  of  the  winds;  in  every 
event,  even  the  least  significant,  which  has  advanced  the 
interests  of  the  human  family  either  in  respect  to  their 
bodies  or  their  souls,  and  thus  made  their  lives  better 
or  worthier ;  in  all  the  breaking  of  fetters ;  in  all  the 
bringing  in  of  light;  in  the  noiseless  triumphs  of  peace; 
in  the  dying  out  of  barbarisms ;  and  in  the  colonization 
of  great  continents  with  new  populations  and  free  states, 
— the  kingdom  is  coming.     Above  all,  in  the  multipli- 
cation of  the  myriad  centres  of  Christian  missions  and 
of  the   myriad  hosts  of  Christian  workers,  each  in  the 
spirit  of  the  King  seeking  the  very  lowest  and  most  de- 
graded, everywhere  lifting  upward  what  Satan's  kingdom 
has  borne  down, — the  kingdom  is  coming.     Its  process 
is  like  that  of  the  constructive  power  of  the  kingdom  of 
nature,  silent  and  invisible,  yet  omnipresent  and  omnip- 
otent, like  the  rain  and  the  dew  and  the  zephyr  and  the 
sunlight,     The  kingdom  comes  intensively  in  each  heart 
like  the  leaven,  which  penetrates  the  whole  mass  silently 
yet  irresistibly  until  all  is  leavened.     It  comes  exten- 
sively like  the  growth  of  the  mustard-seed,  which  from 
the   least  beginnings  unfolds  itself  until  it   shoots  out 
great  branches  and  shelters  the  fowls  of  heaven.     In 
this  world  the  wheat  and  the  tares,  the  good  and  the  evil, 
grow  together  to  the  end.     The  net  gathers  in  fish  good 
and  bad.     One  field  brings  forth  thirty,  another  forty, 
and  another  an  hundred-fold.   In  the  end  the  tares  shall 
be  gathered  and  burned,  and  the  pure  wheat  gathered 
without  mixture  in  the  eternal  garner  of  the  Lord.     In 
the  whole  history  of  its  coming  the  kingdom  of  God 


298  THE  KINGDOM  OF  CHRIST. 

"  comctli  not  with  observation  :  neither  shall  they  say, 
Lo,  here !  or,  Lo,  there !  for  behold,  the  kingdom  of 
God  is  within  you."  But  its  consummation  shall  be 
ushered  in  suddenly  and  with  overwhelming  demonstra- 
tions of  glory :  "  For  as  the  lightning,  that  lighteneth 
out  of  the  one  part  under  heaven,  shineth  unto  the  other 
part  under  heaven ;  so  shall  also  the  Son  of  man  be  in 
his  day."  For  the  present  the  King  is  absent,  gathering 
together  in. his  grasp  the  reins  of  his  empire:  Ave  are  left 
to  be  diligently  employed  with  the  doing  the  utmost  for 
his  cause  possible  within  our  respective  spheres  against  his 
coming.  When  he  comes  he  will  be  revealed  as  a  King 
of  kings,  followed  by  great  retinues  of  royal  princes  sit- 
ting on  thrones  and  reigning  over  cities  in  his  name  and 
through  his  grace. 

IV.  We  now  come  to  the  word  for  this  subject  char- 
acteristic of  the  New  Testament — the  Church.  It 
must  be  remembered  that  this  does  not  present  a  differ- 
ent subject,  but  a  different  phase  of  the  same  subject. 
The  word  "  kingdom  "  expresses  chiefly  the  ideas  of  do- 
minion and  of  loyal  obedience.  The  word  for  "Church" 
expresses  chiefly  the  ideas  of  sovereign  election  and  of 
free  and  efficacious  salvation.  The  New  Testament  word 
represented  by  the  word  "  Church  "  is  ixxjyma  (ecclesia), 
which  precisely  means  the  body  of  the  elect — the  elect, 
the  effectually  called  by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
And  phenomenally  the  elect  are  believers.  Their  specific 
mark  is  faith.  When  the  Lamb  shall  gain  his  victories 
over  his  enemies  and  be  manifested  Lord  of  lords  and 
King  of  kings,  those  who  accompany  him  will  be  the 
"  called,"  the  "  elect,"  "  believers  "  (Rev.  17:14).  This 
is  the  sense  of  the  word  ecclesia — the  body  of  "  the  elect," 


THE  KINGDOM  OF  CHRIST.  299 

"the  effectually  called"  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  "the  body, 
the  fullness  of  Christ/'  "the  bride,  the  Lamb's  wife." 
All  its  real  members  are  saved.  None  are  saved  who 
are  not  really  its  members.  It  is  absolutely  one,  no 
matter  how  its  members  may  appear  to  be  separated  by 
differences  of  time,  place,  creed  or  outward  form,  for  "  by 
one  Spirit  are  we  all  baptized  into  one  body,  whether  we 
be  Jews  or  Gentiles,  whether  we  be  bond  or  free."  The 
unity  of  the  Church  is  the  one  absolutely  essential  ele- 
ment of  its  existence  which  is  never  absent,  and  which 
can  never  be  lost.  And,  however  much  this  essential 
unity  may  be  disguised  by  the  varying  fortunes  or  by 
the  passions  of  human  life,  it  will  be  conspicuously  ex- 
hibited in  its  glorified  form  at  the  last  day. 

But  the  laws  of  human  thought  and  language  have 
made  it  inevitable  that  the  transient  forms  in  which  parts 
of  this  great  body  are  temporarily  organized  should  be 
confounded  with  the  essential  being  of  that  body  which 
transcends  and  survives  them  all,  and  that  the  name 
which  designates  the  whole  should  be  applied  to  all  its 
constituent  parts.  Accordingly,  in  the  New  Testament 
and  in  our  current  language  the  word  "  church  "  is  ap- 
plied to  the  local  congregation,  to  the  collected  congre- 
gations of  a  city  or  a  province,  or  to  some  special  de- 
nomination distinguished  by  a  particular  creed  or  form 
of  organization  or  ceremonial  of  worship.  Thus  we  read 
constantly  of  the  church  in  the  house  of  Aquila  and 
Priscilla,  "the  church  in  Corinth,"  "the  churches  of 
Asia,"  and  of  the  Reformed,  of  the  Presbyterian  and  of 
the  Episcopal  churches. 

Here  two  points  are  to  be  distinctly  borne  in  mind : 
1st,  The  whole  Church  in  its  totality,  the  holy  catholic 


300  THE  KINGDOM  OF  CHRIST. 

Church  in  which  we  all  profess  to  believe,  is  not  made 
up  as  a  general  sum  by  adding  all  the  particular  Chris- 
tian denominations  together,  as  adding  the  Presbyterians 
to  the  Baptists,  and  these  to  the  Methodists,  and  these  to 
the  Anglicans  and  Romanists,  etc.  This  is  self-evident, 
because  all  of  these  outward  organizations  contain  many 
members  which  have  no  part  nor  lot  in  the  essential 
Church  of  which  Christ  is  the  Head ;  and  also  because 
the  whole  body  of  those  dying  in  infancy  outside  of  the 
visible  Church,  which  constitute  the  vast  majority  of  the 
essential  Church,  never  formed  any  part  of  these  par- 
ticular denominations.  You  might  as  well  attempt  to 
reach  an  adequate  survey  of  the  whole  surface  of  the 
round  earth,  with  its  oceans  and  mountains,  by  adding 
together  the  surveyed  farms  of  Europe  and  America,  as 
to  present  an  adequate  survey  of  the  Church  which  is 
the  body  of  Christ  and  the  heir  of  the  promises  by  sum- 
ming up  in  one  table  the  statistics  of  our  several  organ- 
ized denominations.  The  essential  Church  is  like  the 
all-investing  atmosphere.  The  several  phenomenal  or- 
ganizations which  we  call  churches  are  like  the  visible 
clouds  which  float  in  various  forms  and  variable  propor- 
tions in  its  bosom. 

2d.  There  are  not  two  churches,  the  one  visible  and 
the  other  invisible.  There  is,  and  can  be  ever,  but  one 
single,  indivisible  Church  of  Jesus  Christ.  This  is  al- 
ways visible  in  its  exact  definition  and  in  its  widest  com- 
prehension to  the  omniscient  eye  of  God.  It  is  always 
visible,  although  imperfectly,  even  to  the  eye  of  the  hu- 
man observer.  It  consists  in  its  essential  nature  of  men 
and  women  living  in  the  flesh,  and  as  far  as  they  are  dis- 
tinguished as  the  possessors  of  a  peculiar  spiritual  nature : 


THE  KINGDOM  OF  CHRIST.  301 

by  the  very  force  of  their  saintship  they  are  set  apart  in 
contrast  to  the  mass  of  mankind  as  "the  salt  of  the 
earth  "  and  "  the  light  of  the  world."  Moreover,  it  be- 
longs to  the  essential  nature  of  this  spiritual  Church,  as 
composed  of  intrinsically  social  beiugs  who  by  reason  of 
their  saintship  are  loyal  servants  of  their  Master  in  a 
hostile  world,  that  it  always  and  everywhere  tends  to 
express  itself  in  some  external  organized  form,  and  so 
render  itself  the  more  definitely  visible.  When  it  is 
finally  consummated,  this  Church  will  be  the  most  con- 
spicuously visible  of  all  created  objects,  "fair  as  the 
moon,  clear  as  the  sun  and  terrible  as  an  army  with 
banners." 

On  the  other  hand,  in  contrast  with  external  ecclesi- 
astical societies  called  churches  by  us,  the  one  holy  cath- 
olic Church  is  relatively  invisible  to  the  eyes  of  men. 
This  relative  invisibility  is  due  to  two  facts  :  First,  that, 
because  the  true  members  of  the  Church  in  this  world 
are  inextricably  mixed  with  false  professors  and  unbe- 
lievers, it  is  impossible  for  human  observers  in  this  life 
accurately  to  discriminate  the  members  of  this  body  from 
its  environment.  And  secondly,  since  this  one  Church 
comprehends  all  the  centuries  and  members  in  all  the 
communities  embraced  in  the  whole  course  of  human 
history,  a  part  being  glorified  in  heaven,  while  a  part  is 
struggling  with  the  conditions  of  this  life,  it  follows  that 
this  Church  is  too  vast  to  be  comprehended  in  its  unity 
in  one  human  vision.  As  a  whole,  it  is  invisible  because 
its  proportions  transcend  vision.  It  is  seen  in  its  parts 
successively  and  imperfectly,  but  it  will  be  seen  com- 
pletely only  when  the  city  of  God  descends  from  heaven 
"  prepared  as  a  bride  adorned  for  her  husband." 


302  THE  KINGDOM  OF  CHRIST. 

V.  There  are  possible  only  two  generically  distinct 
theories  as  to  the  nature  of  the  Church.  The  first  main- 
tains that  it  is  essentially  an  outwardly  organized  society, 
like  the  Church  of  Rome  or  of  England ;  its  outward 
form  as  well  as  its  informing  spirit  being  determined  by 
the  constitution  originally  imposed  upon  it  by  Christ, 
through  a  succession  of  offices,  iu  unbroken  organic  con- 
tinuity from  the  days  of  the  apostles  until  now. 

The  second  doctrine  maintains  that  the  Church  is  a 
general  term  for  the  whole  body  of  regenerated  men, 
whether  of  past,  present  or  future  generations.  These  are 
constituted  one  spiritual  body  by  the  indwelling  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  which  unites  them  to  Christ  their  Head,  as 
all  the  various  elements  and  members  of  our  natural 
bodies  are  constituted  one  by  the  indwelling  of  a  common 
soul.  The  many  members  of  this  body,  being  many,  are 
one  body ;  and  it  is  all  the  more  one  because  of  the  in- 
finitely various  relations  which  the  several  members 
sustain  to  our  Lord  and  to  each  other,  determined  by 
their  various  natural  faculties,  historical  conditions  and 
gracious  endowments. 

A  very  slight  knowledge  either  of  the  Bible  or  of 
ecclesiastical  history  proves  that  the  doctrine  of  the 
Church  first  stated  is  impossible.  The  claim  is  that 
such  organizations  as  the  Greek,  Roman  and  Anglican 
churches  are  identical,  as  external  corporations,  with  the 
Church  of  the  original  apostles.  This  is  simply  absurd 
on  the  face  of  it.  It  is  admitted  by  the  first  scholars  of 
the  Church  of  England  *  that  "  nothing  like  modern 
episcopacy  existed  before  the  close  of  the  first  century." 
The  office  of  the  twelve  apostles  was  in  its  essence  inca- 
*  Dean  Stanley,  Bishop  Lightfoot,  etc. 


THE  KINGDOM  OF  CHRIST.  303 

pable  of  transmission,  and  as  a  matter  of  fact  has  not  been 
transmitted.  No  living  man  can  follow  Paul's  example 
in  presenting  the  "signs  of  an  apostle."  It  has  been 
proved  hundreds  of  times,  and  never  with  clearer  demon- 
stration than  by  Bishop  Lightfoot  in  his  Commentary  on 
the  Epistle  to  the  PMlippians,  that  the  idea  of  a  clerical 
priesthood  was  unknown  in  the  early  Church.  Nothing 
like  the  Roman  or  Anglican  hierarchy  can  be  read  be- 
tween the  lines  of  New  Testament  history  without  the 
most  grotesque  incongruity.  Nothing  like  their  vest- 
ments or  elaborate  liturgies  can  be  conceived  of  as  be- 
longing to  the  Church  of  that  period.  Most  of  these 
are  demonstrably  comparatively  modern,  and  bear  marks 
of  Jewish,  of  heathen  and  of  secular  origin. 

Besides,  the  claim  that  the  original  external  corpora- 
tions have  remained  intact  through  all  intervening  gen- 
erations without  break  in  the  absolutely  continuous  trans- 
mission of  authority  can  in  no  case  be  proved,  and  in  most 
cases  is  conspicuously  false.  The  Church  of  Rome  ridi- 
cules the  claims  of  the  Greeks  and  Anglicans  alike. 
The  contestant  apostles  of  Romanism  and  Anglicanism 
excommunicate  each  other,  and  claim  exclusive  authority 
in  dioceses  embracing  the  same  territory  over  half  the 
world,  and  utterly  irrespective  of  any  claims  to  priority 
of  occupation  on  either  side — e.  g.  the  claims  of  the 
Romanists  in  New  York  and  Virginia,  and  of  the 
Anglicans  in  Canada,  Louisiana  and  California.  The 
more  thoroughly,  therefore,  the  first  theory  of  the 
Church,  or  that  which  regards  it  as  a  visible  corpora- 
tion, is  put  to  the  test,  the  more  inconsistent  it  is  shown 
to  be  with  all  the  providential  facts  of  the  case. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  is  evident  that  the  second  doc- 


304  THE  KINGDOM  OF  CHRIST. 

trine  of  the  Church,  or  that  which  regards  it  as  a  col- 
lective name  for  the  whole  body  of  the  saved  in  all  ages, 
is  the  one  which  alone  justifies  the  application  to  it  of 
the  common  predicates  of  "  unity,"  "  apostolicity," 
"catholicity,"  "infallibility,"  "perpetuity"  and  "sanc- 
tity." The  spiritual  body  is  always  faithful  to  its  gen- 
uine apostolic  doctrine  in  all  its  essentials ;  is  infallibly 
preserved  from  all  fatal  errors  of  faith  and  practice ;  is 
set  apart  from  the  world  as  consecrated  and  morally 
pure ;  and  endures  through  all  conflicts  and  changes  as 
indestructible  and  unchangeably  one  and  catholic,  em- 
bracing in  one  spiritual  uuion  all  saints  in  all  parts  of 
the  world,  in  all  successive  generations. 

Nevertheless,  this  spiritual  body,  always  consisting  of 
men  and  women  whose  natures  are  essentially  social, 
must  ever  spontaneously  and  universally  tend  to  orga- 
nize itself  under  all  historical  conditions.  All  the 
various  forms  which  thence  result  have  been  compre- 
hended in  God's  design,  and  are  necessary  for  the  spirit- 
ual development  of  the  Church  and  for  the  accomplish- 
ment of  the  great  tasks  it  has  been  commissioned  to 
perform.  Yet  the  permanent  results  of  biblical  inter- 
pretation unite  with  the  history  of  Christ's  providential 
and  gracious  guidance  of  the  churches  in  proving  that  he 
never  intended  to  impose  upon  the  Church  as  a  whole 
any  particular  form  of  orgauization.  Neither  he  nor  his 
apostles  ever  went  beyond  the  suggestion  of  general  prin- 
ciples and  actual  inauguration  of  a  few  rudimentary 
forms.  The  history  of  the  churches  during  all  sub- 
sequent ages  shows  that  these  rudimentary  forms  have 
been  ever  changing  in  correspondence  with  the  changes 
in  their  historical  conditions.     And  in  exact  proportion 


THE  KINGDOM  OF  CHRIST.  305 

to  the  freedom  and  fruitfulness  of  the  Church's  activity 
in  the  service  of  its  Master  are  these  organic  forms  rap- 
idly and  flexibly  adapted  to  the  conditions  of  the  sphere 
in  which  their  especial  work  is  appointed.     These  va- 
rious denominational  forms  of  the  living  Church   are 
all  one  in  their  essentials,  and  differ  only  in  their  acci- 
dents.    These  accidents  have  been  determined  in  each 
case  by  conditions  peculiar  to  itself,  especially  by  those 
resulting  from  national  character  and  from  political,  social, 
educational  and  geographical  circumstances.    Some  have 
sprung  from  transient  conditions,  some  from  the  idiosyn- 
crasies of  their  founders,  and  some  even  from  the  follies 
and   sins   of   selfish   partisans.      Other   differences   are 
rooted  in  far  more  permanent  distinctions  of  nations  and 
classes,  and  represent  persistent  rival  tendencies  in  the 
thoughts  and  tastes  and  habits  of  men.     All  of  these, 
since  they,  exist  and  are  used  as  instruments  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  have  in  that  fact  a  providential  justification.   And 
each  one,  even  the  least  significant,  emphasizes  some  other- 
wise too  much  neglected  side  of  the  truth,  and  is  therefore, 
in  its  day,  necessary  to  the  completeness  of  the  whole. 

It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  while  the  Church  of  Christ 
necessarily  tends  to  self-organization  under  ordinary  con- 
ditions, and  to  different  forms  of  organization  under  dif- 
ferent conditions,  nevertheless  organization  itself  is  not 
of  its  essence.  The  Church  exists  antecedently  to  and 
independently  of  any  organization,  and  its  far  larger 
part,  embracing  all  mankind  of  all  centuries  dying  in 
infancy,  extends  indefinitely  beyond  all  organizations. 
All  the  more  it  is  certain  that  no  special  form  can  be 
essential  to  the  existence,  or  even  to  the  integrity,  of 
the  Church. 

20 


306  THE  KINGDOM  OF  CHRIST. 

As  the  outward  form  should  express  the  true  character 
of  the  informing  spirit,  of  course  in  an  ideally  perfect 
state  the  essential  unity  of  the  Church,  as  well  as  all 
other  permanent  characteristics,  must  find  expression. 
All  radical  diversities,  all  irreconcilable  oppositions,  all 
bigotry,  jealousy,  alienation  and  strife,  must  be  elimi- 
nated. But  all  unity  implies  relation  and  all  relations 
imply  differences,  and  the  sublime  unity  of  the  catholic 
Church  of  all  peoples  and  of  all  generations  implies  the 
harmony  of  incalculable  varieties.  The  principle  of  the 
union  is  spiritual  and  vital,  and  hence  must  be  the  result 
of  an  internal  growth.  The  more  perfect  the  inward  life, 
the  more  perfect  will  be  its  outward  expression  in  form. 
The  final  external  form  of  the  holy  catholic  Church  will 
never  be  reached  by  adding  denomination  to  denomina- 
tion. It  will  come  as  all  growth  into  organized  form, 
alike  in  the  physiological  and  in  the  social  world,  comes 
by  the  spontaneous  action  of  central  vital  forces  from 
within. 

All  living  unity  implies  diversity,  and  just  in  propor- 
tion to  the  elevated  type  and  significance  of  the  unity 
will  be  the  variety  of  the  elements  it  comprehends.  In 
the  barren  desert  each  grain  of  sand  is  of  precisely  the 
same  form  with  every  other  grain,  and  therefore  there  is 
no  organic  whole.  The  life  of  the  world  results  from 
the  correlation  of  earth  and  sky,  of  land  and  sea,  of 
mountains  and  plains.  All  social  unity  springs  out  of 
the  differences  between  man  and  woman,  parent  and 
child,  men  of  thought  and  men  of  action,  the  men  who 
possess  and  the  men  who  need.  No  number  of  similar 
stones  would  constitute  a  great  cathedral.  No  number 
of  repetitions  of  the  same  musical  sound  would  generate 


THE  KINGDOM  OF  CHRIST.  307 

music.  Always  where  the  most  profound  and  perfect 
unity  is  effected  it  is  the  result  of  the  greatest  variety 
and  complexity  of  parts.  This  law  holds  true  through 
all  varieties  of  vegetable,  animal  and  social  organisms, 
and  is  revealed  equally  through  all  the  pages  of  the 
geologic  records. 

Certainly,  God  appears  to  be  preparing  to  make  the 
ultimate  unity  of  the  Church  the  richest  and  most  com- 
prehensive of  created  forms  in  the  number  and  variety 
of  its  profound  harmonies.     It  would  have  been  a  very 
simple  thing  at  the  first  to  form  a  homogeneous  society 
out  of  the  undifferentiated  family  of  Adam  numerically 
multiplied.     But  for  thousands  of  years  God  has  been 
breaking  up  that  family  into  a  multitude  of  varieties 
passing  all  enumeration.    In  arctic,  torrid  and  temperate 
zones;  on  mountains,  valleys,  coasts,  continents  and  isl- 
ands ;  in  endlessly  drawn-out  successions  of  ages ;  under 
the  influence  of  every  possible  variety  of  inherited  insti- 
tution ;  in  every  stage  of  civilization  and  under  every 
political,  social  and  religious  constitution ;  through  all 
possible  complications  of  personal  idiosyncrasy  and  of 
external  environment,— God  has  been  drawing  human 
nature  through  endless  modifications.    All  these  varieties 
enter  into  and  contribute  to  the  marvelous  riches  of  the 
Christian  Church,  for  her  members  are  "  redeemed  out 
of  every  kindred,  and  tongue,  and  people,  and  nation." 
And  all  these  are  further  combined  into  all  the  endless 
varieties  of  ecclesiastical  organizations,  monarchical,  aris- 
tocratical,  republican  and  democratic,  which  the  ingenuity 
of  man,  assisted  by  all  complications  of  theological  con- 
troversy and  of  social  and  political  life,  has  been  able  to 
invent. 


308  THE  KINGDOM  OF  CHRIST. 

AVho,  then,  shall  guide  all  these  multitudinous  con- 
stituents in  their  recombination  into  the  higher  unity  ? 
Shall  it  be  accomplished  by  a  process  of  absorption  into 
some  ancient  society  claiming  to  be  the  Church?  Shall 
it  be  helped  forward  by  the  volunteered  offices  of  some 
self-authorized  "Church  congress"?  A  time  can  never 
come  when  many  of  these  differences  so  evidently  de- 
signed will  be  obliterated.  But  undoubtedly  a  time  is 
soon  coming  when  the  law  of  differentiation,  so  long 
dominant,  shall  be  subordinated  to  the  law  of  integra- 
tion, when  all  these  differences  so  arduously  won  shall 
be  wrought  into  the  harmony  of  the  perfect  whole.  The 
comprehension  of  so  vast  a  variety  of  interacting  forces 
must  be  left  to  God.  His  methods  are  always  historical 
and  his  instruments  are  all  second  causes.  He  alone  has 
been  contemporaneous  with  the  Church  under  all  dispen- 
sations, and  omnipresent  with  the  churches  of  every  na- 
tion and  tribe,  and  with  him  "  a  thousand  years  are  as 
one  day." 

The  sin  of  schism  is  unquestionably  very  common  and 
very  heinous.  In  its  essence  it  is  a  sin  against  the  unity 
of  the  Church.  If  this  unity  were  external  and  me- 
chanical, then  all  organic  division  or  variety  would  be 
schism.  But  since  the  principle  of  unity  is  the  imma- 
nent Holy  Ghost  binding  all  the  members  in  one  life  to 
Christ  its  source,  schism  must  consist  in  some  violation 
of  the  ties  which  bind  us  to  the  Holy  Ghost  or  to  Christ 
or  to  our  fellow-members. 

Hence  all  denial  of  the  supreme  Godhead  and  lord- 
ship of  Christ  is  schism.  All  denial  of  the  body  of 
catholic  doctrine  common  to  the  whole  confessing  Church 
and  embraced  in  the  great  ecumenical  creeds  is  schism. 


THE  KINGDOM  OF  CHRIST.  309 

All  sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost,  every  breach  of  the  law 
of  holiness  and  every  defect  in  spiritual-mindedness  tend 
to  the  marring  and  dividing  of  the  body  of  Christ.  All 
pride,  bigotry  and  exclusive  Churchism  j  all  claim  that 
the  true  Church  is  essentially  identical  with  a  certain  ex- 
ternal organization  or  form  of  organization  or  with  a 
definite  external  succession  of  officers ;  all  denial  of  the 
validity  of  the  ministry  and  sacraments  of  any  bodies 
professing  the  true  faith  and  bearing  evidence  of  the 
presence  of  the  Holy  Spirit, — are  schisms.  All  party 
spirit,  jealousy  and  selfish  rivalry ;  all  unnecessary  mul- 
tiplication of  denominational  organizations ;  all  want  of 
the  spirit  of  fraternal  love  and  co-operation  in  the  ser- 
vice of  the  common  Master, — tend  to  the  marring  and 
dividing  of  the  body  of  Christ. 

If  this  be  true,  it  is  evident  that  the  real  union  of  the 
churches  can  best  be  cultivated  by  promoting  the  central 
spiritual  unity  of  the  Church  which  comprehends  them 
all.  For  this  end  all  who  call  themselves  Christians 
must  with  one  purpose  seek  to  bring  their  whole  mind 
and  thought  more  and  more  into  perfect  conformity  to 
the  Word  of  God  speaking  through  the  sacred  Script- 
ures, and  their  whole  life  and  activity  more  and  more 
into  subjection  to  the  Holy  Ghost  dwelling  in  the  whole 
body  and  in  all  its  members  alike.  This  process  must, 
of  course,  proceed  entirely  from  within  outward,  never 
in  the  reverse  direction.  Organic  unity  will  be  the  re- 
sult of  the  co-operation  through  long  ages  of  an  infinite 
variety  of  forces.  It  cannot  be  brought  about  by  any 
system  of  means  working  toward  it  directly  as  an  end  in 
itself.  All  such  unionistic  enterprises  are  prompted  by 
many  mixed  motives,  some  of  them  essentially  partisan, 


310  THE  KINGDOM  OF  CHRIST. 

and  therefore  wholly  divisive  iu  their  real  effects.  But 
hereafter,  iu  God's  good  time,  the  result  will  come  as  an 
iucideutal  effect  of  the  ripening  of  all  churches  in  knowl- 
edge aud  love  and  in  all  the  graces,  and  especially  of  a 
whole-souled,  self-forgetful  consecration  of  all  to  the  ser- 
vice and  glory  of  their  common  Lord. 

VI.  The  "  City  of  God." 

The  most  sublime  picture  presented  iu  the  entire  past 
history  of  the  Christian  Church  since  Pentecost  is  that 
presented  by  St.  Augustine,  the  grandest  of  all  unin- 
spired Church  teachers,  when  during  the  years  A.  d.  413 
to  426,  from  the  very  midst  of  the  conflagration  of  an- 
cient Rome,  the  so-called  "  eternal  city  "  of  the  pagans, 
he  uttered  in  trumpet  tones  his  argument  and  prophecy 
of  the  superior  strength  and  beauty,  and  of  the  abso- 
lutely immortal  life  and  glory,  of  the  city  of  God  in 
his  De  Oivitate  Dei.  The  Teutonic  barbarians  had  already 
taken  Rome  and  shaken  to  its  foundations  the  ancient 
universal  empire,  upon  which  civilization  and  order 
and  the  hopes  of  mankind  appeared  to  depend.  The 
minds  of  men  were  in  a  state  of  chaotic  confusion.  The 
future  was  utterly  dark.  Even  Christians  began  to 
despair.  Then  Augustine  made  all  men  see  the  differ- 
ence between  the  "city  of  the  world,"  called  eternal, 
which  was  passing  away,  and  the  pure  and  rainbowed 
"city  of  God,"  the  goal  of  contest,  but  the  realm  of 
peace  and  love,  which  shall  abide  secure  and  radiant, 
like  the  incorruptible  stars,  for  ever  and  ever. 

A  city  differs  from  a  kingdom  only  in  being  its  con- 
densed essence,  its  central  seat.  "What  Paris  is  to  France, 
what  the  city  of  Rome  was  to  the  empire  of  the  same 
name,  suggests  the  use  of  the  title  "  city  of  God  "  for 


THE  KINGDOM  OF  CHRIST.  311 

the  consummate  and  glorified  form  of  the  kingdom.  It 
is  the  kingdom  comprised  in  its  absolute  unity,  raised  to 
its  highest  condition  of  culture,  refinement,  wealth  and 
power. 

Isaiah  saw  the  "  city  of  God"  (Isa.  60:  10-22)  when  he 
said,  "  The  sons  of  strangers  shall  build  up  thy  walls, 
and  their  kings  shall  minister  unto  thee.  .  .  .  Therefore 
thy  gates  shall  be  open  continually,  they  shall  not  be 
shut  day  nor  night,  that  men  may  bring  unto  thee  the 
forces  of  the  Gentiles,  and  that  their  kings  may  be 
brought."  "  The  Gentiles  shall  come  to  thy  light,  and 
kings  to  the  brightness  of  thy  rising.  Lift  up  thine  eyes 
round  about  and  see :  all  they  gather  themselves  together 
....  the  abundauce  of  the  sea  shall  be  converted  unto 
thee,  the  forces  of  the  Gentiles  shall  come  unto  thee." 

The  author  of  Hebrews  saw  that  "  city  of  God  "  when 
he  said  (Heb.  12  :  22  seq.) :  "  Ye  are  come  unto  mount 
Zion,  and  unto  the  city  of  the  living  God,  the  heavenly 
Jerusalem,  and  to  an  innumerable  company  of  angels,  to 
the  general  assembly  and  Church  of  the  first-born,  which 
are  written  in  heaven,  and  to  God  the  Judge  of  all,  and 
to  the  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect,  and  to  Jesus  the 
mediator  of  the  new  covenant,  and  to  the  blood  of  sprink- 
ling, that  speaketh  better  things  than  that  of  Abel." 

And  the  apocalyptic  prophet  closes  the  volume  of 
divine  disclosures  with  the  prophetic  picture  of  the 
kingdom  consummated  in  the  form  of  this  "city  of 
God "  descending  from  heaven :  "  And  I  John  saw 
the  holy  city,  New  Jerusalem,  coming  down  from  God 
out  of  heaven,  prepared  as  a  bride  adorned  for  her  hus- 
band. And  I  heard  a  great  voice  out  of  heaven  saying, 
Behold,  the  tabernacle  of  God  is  with  men,  and  he  will 


312  THE  KINGDOM  OF  CHRIST. 

dwell  with  them,  and  they  shall  be  his  people,  and  God 
himself  shall  be  with  them,  and  be  their  God.  And 
God  shall  wipe  away  all  tears  from  their  eyes;  and  there 
shall  be  no  more  death,  neither  sorrow,  nor  crying, 
neither  shall  there  be  any  more  pain :  for  the  former 
things  are  passed  away."  For  the  city  "  has  the  glory 
of  God :  and  her  light  was  like  unto  a  stone  most 
precious,  even  like  a  jasper  stone,  clear  as  crystal.  .  .  . 
And  I  saw  no  temple  therein  :  for  the  Lord  God  Al- 
mighty and  the  Lamb  are  the  temple  of  it.  And  the 
city  had  no  need  of  the  sun,  neither  of  the  moon,  to 
shine  in  it :  for  the  glory  of  God  did  lighten  it,  and  the 
Lamb  is  the  light  thereof.  .  .  .  And  the  gates  of  it  shall 
not  be  shut  at  all  by  day :  for  there  shall  be  no  night 
there.  And  they  shall  bring  the  glory  and  honor  of 
the  nations  into  it.  And  there  shall  in  no  wise  enter 
into  it  any  thing  that  defileth,  neither  whatsoever  work- 
eth  abomination,  or  maketh  a  lie;  but  they  which  are 
written  in  the  Lamb's  book  of  life."  ..."  He  which 
testifieth  these  things  saith,  Surely  I  come  quickly. 
Amen.     Even  so,  come,  Lord  Jesus." 


LECTURE  XIV. 

THE  LAW  OF  THE  KINGDOM. 

We  have  seen  that  the  great  end  in  which  all  the 
providential  activities  of  God  culminate  in  this  world  is 
the  establishment  of  a  universal  kingdom  of  righteous- 
ness, which  is  to  embrace  all  men  and  angels  and  to  en- 
dure for  ever  in  absolute  perfection  and  blessedness. 
This  kingdom,  viewed  as  a  reign,  must  be  administered 
by  law,  and,  viewed  as  a  realm,  must  be  brought  into 
perfect  subjection  to  law  in  all  its  elements.  This  law 
can  be  nothing  lower  than  the  law  of  absolute  and  im- 
mutable moral  perfection,  which,  having  its  seat  in  the 
moral  nature  of  God,  embraces  the  whole  moral  universe 
in  its  sway. 

This  divine  institution  under  its  title  of  "  Church  "  is 
too  habitually  regarded  as  simply  the  sphere  of  a  divine 
redemption.  The  member  of  the  Church  is  looked  upon 
as  a  beneficiary  unconditionally  delivered  from  condem- 
nation, whose  happiness  is  rendered  infallibly  secure  for 
ever.  But  the  essential  idea  of  the  kingdom  is  a  com- 
munity of  men  in  communion  with  God,  whose  whole 
nature  and  life  are  dominated  by  the  law  of  righteous- 
ness, where  every  individual  is  holy  as  our  Father  in 
heaven  is  holy,  and  where  all  spontaneously  perform  to 
perfection  all  the  duties  which  grow  out  of  their  several 
relations. 

313 


314  THE  LAW  OF  THE  KINGDOM. 

There  are  here  two  opposite  and  equally  false  concep- 
tions of  the  nature  of  the  kingdom  of  God  which  must 
be  discriminated  and  rejected — that  which  makes  its 
righteousness  consist  of  natural  morality  divorced  from 
religion,  and  that  which  makes  it  consist  of  religious  sen- 
timents and  observances,  morality  being  unemphasized. 

I.  It  is  a  characteristic  position  of  the  modern  rational- 
ists, who  maintain  the  perfectibility  of  human  society 
through  a  process  of  natural  evolution,  that  a  morality 
which  provides  for  all  the  duties  which  man  owes  to  his 
fellows  may  be  cultivated  to  perfection  independent  of 
any  religious  motives.  It  is  maintained,  even,  that  re- 
ligious faith  is  injurious  to  pure  morality :  (1)  Because 
it  diverts  the  thoughts  and  efforts  of  men  from  their  fel- 
low-men and  from  the  present  life,  which  they  insist  is 
the  only  sphere  of  moral  relations  and  obligations,  and 
directs  them  toward  an  invisible,  spiritual  world,  and  to  a 
future  world  of  which  we  can  know  nothing  certainly,  and 
to  which  we  can,  at  least  in  our  present  condition,  owe  no 
duties.  And  (2)  they  hold  that  the  motives  which  religion 
presents  in  the  future  reward  and  punishment  of  the  indi- 
vidual are  purely  selfish,  and  therefore  can  never  prompt 
to  a  genuinely  moral  and  noble  character  or  course  of 
conduct.  They  insist  that  the  moral  relations  of  men 
are  necessarily  confined  to  their  fellow-men  and  to  the 
present  life,  and  that  all  genuine  morality  is  prompted 
by  the  natural  sense  of  justice  which  regards  our  fellows, 
and  by  the  natural  sympathies  which  bind  us  to  them. 
And  (3)  they  point  triumphantly  to  the  degrading  super- 
stitions and  the  cruel  fanaticisms  which  in  the  course  of 
human  history  have  been  associated  with  all  forms  of  re- 
lio-ion. 


THE  LAW  OF  THE  KINGDOM.  315 

On  the  contrary,  we  are  able  to  show  that  neither  de- 
grading superstition  nor  cruel  fanaticism  has  any  source  or 
encouragement  in  the  principles  of  genuine  Christianity; 
that  these  evils  spring,  like  all  other  vile  things,  from 
the  corrupt  hearts  of  sinful  men  ;  that  they  have  existed 
during  all  periods  of  human  history  independent  of  all 
forms  of  religion ;  and  that  their  association  with  any 
of  the  doctrines  or  institutions  of  Christianity  has  been 
only  accidental  and  temporary.  We  maintain  that  the 
pleas  for  the  separation  of  morality  and  religion  are 
rational  only  on  the  supposition  that  Atheism  is  true. 
On  the  other  hand,  if  the  existence  of  God  is  admitted, 
then  conscience  instantly  proclaims  itself  to  be  his  voice 
in  the  soul,  and  speaks  in  his  name.  All  morality,  per- 
sonal and  social,  must  have  a  theistic  basis  to  give  it 
depth,  authority  and  power.  The  morality  of  these 
boasting  opponents  of  religion  is  superficial  in  the  ex- 
treme. The  noblest  motives  they  present  are  those  of 
sympathy  and  compassion  for  others.  They  have  no 
eternal  Moral  Governor,  no  heavenly  Father,  no  divine 
Elder  Brother,  no  indwelling  Holy  Ghost;  no  infinite 
sanctions  of  eternal  rewards  or  punishments.  Their  pale 
and  languid  lives  prove  that  their  vaunted  altruistic  mor- 
ality is  supported  by  no  faith  in  its  truth  and  no  enthu- 
siasm for  its  beauty.  It  has  done  nothing  for  the  world 
beyond  what  is  rationally  referred  to  natural  amiability, 
a  passing  cant  of  the  hour,  a  self-admiring  desire  for  hu- 
man recognition.  How  miserably  poor  do  the  best  show- 
ings of  the  ephemeral  flower  of  non-religious  morality 
appear  when  laid  in  the  effacing  radiance  of  the  life  and 
cross  of  Christ,  and  of  that  immense  company  of  his 
humble  disciples  who  through  all  ages  and  in  all  spheres 


316  THE  LAW  OF  THE  KINGDOM. 

of  human  life  have  followed  his  example  of  self-sacrifice 
in  the  interests  of  humanity  and  of  heroic  devotion  to 
the  will  and  service  of  his  heavenly  Father !  All  true 
morality  has  its  root  and  ground  in,  and  derives  its  only 
adequate  motives  from,  the  doctrines  of  Christianity  and 
from  the  fellowship  of  God  with  man  wdiich  Christ  se- 
cures. A  rebel  against  supreme  and  fundamental  obli- 
gation cannot  possibly  be  righteous  in  any  relation,  how- 
ever subordinate.  And  the  only  motives  which  render 
any  action  completely  righteous  are  supreme  love  to  God 
and  love  to  man  for  God's  sake,  "  for  whether  we  eat  or 
drink  or  whatever  we  do,"  if  we  would  claim  the  meed 
of  the  righteous,  we  must  "  do  all  for  the  glory  of  God." 
II.  The  danger  most  easily  besetting  many  apparent- 
ly zealous  Christians  lies  in  the  opposite  direction  of 
holding  to  the  validity  of  a  religious  experience,  the 
immediate  effect  of  which  is  anything  short  of  the  love 
and  practice  of  all  righteousness.  The  gratuitous  justi- 
fication of  a  sinner  on  the  ground  of  another's  righteous- 
ness, imputed  to  him  freely  without  respect  to  his  per- 
sonal past  character  or  record,  is  legitimately  the  root 
and  necessary  precondition  of  the  most  perfect  morality. 
Nevertheless,  this  doctrine  in  the  hands  of  ignorant  and 
impure  men  is  capable  of  the  most  serious  abuse.  And 
even  among  orthodox  Christians,  who  are  theoretically  all 
right  in  their  acknowledgment  of  all  moral  obligations, 
the  least  lapse  of  watchfulness  will  bring  us  in  danger 
of  a  comfortable  resting  in  the  security  of  our  position 
in  Christ,  while  we  neglect  the  full  performance  of  all 
the  moral  obligations  which  spring  out  of  our  relations 
as  Christians  alike  to  God  and  man.  The  very  end  for 
which  the  stupendous  enginery  of  redemption  was  de- 


THE  LAW  OF  THE  KINGDOM.  317 

vised  and  executed,  including  the  incarnation,  crucifix- 
ion, resurrection  of  the  Son  of  God  and  the  mission  of 
the  Holy  Ghost,  is  to  establish  a  community  of  regener- 
ated and  sanctified  men,  absolutely  perfect  in  righteous- 
ness.    The  very  conception  of  an  immoral  Christian  is 
monstrous.     And,  however,  imperfect  the  Christian  may 
be  at  any  stage  of  his  spiritual  growth,  he  can  make  no 
compromise  with  any  sin;  he  must   put  forth  all  his 
powers  in  ceaseless  efforts  after  absolute  moral  perfection 
in  all  directions.     He  must  include  all  the  duties  which 
spring  out  of  our  relations  to  God,  and  all  those  which 
spring  out   of  all  our  relations  to   our  fellow-men   of 
every  kind.     There  can  be  nothing  overlooked,  much 
less  willingly  neglected.     He  must  include  not  only  the 
theological  graces  and  the  cardinal  moral  virtues,  but 
the  bloom  and  symmetry  of  moral  excellence  which  re- 
sult from  the  perfect  harmony  of  all  the  virtues.     He 
must  be  pure  in  thought  as  well  as  in  life,  magnanimous 
and  generous  in  feeling  and  impulse,  as  well  as  just  in  his 
transactions.     A  narrow-minded,  conceited   and  selfish 
Christian  is  an  incongruity  as  real,  though  not  quite  so 
shocking,  as  an  immoral  Christian.     Whatsoever  things 
are  pure,  whatsoever  things  are  of  good  report,  whatso- 
ever things  are  edifying,  whatsoever  things  are  spiritually 
beautiful,  whatsoever  things  are  Christ-like, — all  these 
things  are  involved  in  the  righteousness  of  all  saints. 
To  be  a  gentleman  or  a  lady  in  the  essential,  not  the 
conventional  sense,  is  the  very  least  demanded  in  the 
moral  character  and  conduct  of  any  Christian.     Any- 
thing beneath  that  is  out  of  the  question.     But  beyond 
that  the  Christian  hero  and  heroine  must  ever  aspire  to 
the  heights  of  moral  and  spiritual  excellence  and  beauty, 


318  THE  LAW  OF  THE  KINGDOM. 

such  as  will  be  realized  perfectly  only  in  the  spirits  of 
just  men  made  perfect  in  the  holy  city. 

III.  The  sublime  source  of  this  law  is  the  uncreated, 
absolute  and  immutable  moral  perfections  of  the  divine 
nature.  This  nature  is  presupposed  in  the  divine  voli- 
tion, the  self-existent  nature  being  immanent  in  the  will. 
This  perfection  is  absolute;  it  admits  of  no  qualifications 
or  degrees.  Every,  even  the  least,  element  of  duty  is 
imperative.  Every,  even  the  least,  shortcoming  in  that 
which  is  right  is  of  the  essential  nature  of  sin  and  guilt. 
This  law,  having  its  seat  in  the  nature  of  the  supreme 
Moral  Governor,  must  be  at  the  same  time  original, 
supreme,  absolute,  universal,  and  immutable.  It  must 
have  been  one  in  all  ages  and  in  all  realms,  over  all  or- 
ders of  creatures  of  all  degrees  of  knowledge  and  power, 
over  the  heights  of  heaven  and  over  the  pit  of  hell.  The 
specific  duties  may  vary  indefinitely,  but  the  principle 
of  duty — the  absolute  obligation  to  all  that  is  right  and 
to  the  rejection  of  all  that  is  not  right — is  universal  and 
immutable. 

The  absolute  obligation  of  all  moral  excellence  is  uni- 
versal and  immutable,  but  specific  duties  grow  out  of  re- 
lations immediately  when  those  relations  are  constituted. 
(1)  The  obligation  of  universal  love  and  of  absolute 
truth  binds  all  God's  moral  creatures  equally  everywhere, 
because  these  are  absolutely  demanded  by  the  unchange- 
able nature  of  God,  and  because  they  are  results  under 
the  universal  law  of  moral  perfection,  from  the  essential 
relations  which  all  moral  agents  sustain  to  God  and  to 
each  other.  (2)  There  is  another  very  large  class  of 
duties  which  immediately  spring  out  of  the  permanent 
relations  which  God  has  sovereignly  established  in  the 


THE  LAW  OF  THE  KINGDOM.  319 

constitution  of  human  society  in  this  world.     These  are 
expressed  by  the  commandments,  "  Thou  shalt  not  steal  " 
"  Thou  shalt  not  kill,"  "  Thou  shalt  not  commit  adul- 
tery."   These  would  have  no  meaning  in  a  state  of  rela- 
tions in  which  there  was  no  property,  no  mortal  life  and 
no  sexual  constitution.     But  as  soon  as  these  relations 
exist,  the  moral    obligations   necessarily  exist,      (3)  A 
third  large  class  of  duties  spring  for  a  time  from  certain 
temporary  relations  which  God  has  constituted  among  a 
particular  people  and  during  a  particular  dispensation  or 
constitutional  period :  as,  for  instance,  the  judicial  laws 
of  the  Jews,  many  of  which  appear  to  us  so  peculiar, 
grew   necessarily   from  the   application   of  the   eternal 
principles  of  right  to  the  very  peculiar  social,  govern- 
mental and  ecclesiastical  conditions  which  God,  for  wise 
purposes,  had  at  that   time   established   among   them. 
The  specific  laws  last  as  long  as  the  special  reasons  for 
them  continue,  and  pass  into  desuetude  as  soon  as  these 
reasons  cease  to  exist.      (4)  A  fourth  class  of  duties 
spring  from  the  simple  sovereign  volition  of  God.     He 
is  of  course  always  rational  and  righteous  in  all  his  de- 
crees.    But  the  reasons  which  determine  him  may  be 
utterly  unknown  to  us,  and  whether  we  see  or  appreciate 
the  reason  or  not,  the  sovereign  volition  of  God  binds 
us  by  a  perfect  moral  obligation  to  obey,  because  he  is 
our  Owner  and  Lord.     Thus,  the  command  to  observe 
as  holy  the  first  clay  of  the  week  as  the  Christian  Sab- 
bath has  two  parts — the  one  invariable,  because  it  rests 
upon  the  general  nature  of  man,  physical  and  spiritual, 
which  needs  a  day  of  rest ;  and  the  other  variable,  be- 
cause it  is  positive  purely,  resting  only  on  the  volition 
of  God,  who  has  set  apart  one  day  in  seven,  and  a  par- 


320  THE  LAW  OF  THE  KINGDOM. 

ticular  one  of  the  seven,  to  be  that  day  of  rest ;  which 
otherwise  would  have  been  a  matter  of  indifference. 

Hence  the  moral  law  of  the  kingdom  is  absolute  and 
perfect  and  universal,  descending  from  above,  never  as- 
cending from  below.  It  is  immutably  one,  yet  always 
comprehending  new  conditions,  and  generating  an  indef- 
inite variety  of  new  special  obligations  out  of  the  chang- 
ing relations  constantly  developed  under  the  sovereign 
guidance  of  the  great  King.  We  never  elected  God. 
The  united  power  of  all  his  creatures  can  never  limit  or 
condition  his  will.  No  rebellious  barons  will  ever  coerce 
from  him  a  charter  which  will  limit  the  absolute  autoc- 
racy of  his  reign.  There  is  in  all  the  ages  and  in  all 
the  provinces  of  his  kingdom  no  such  thing  as  human 
rights  to  disturb  his  government  or  to  distract  righteous- 
ness. No  creature,  from  the  very  nature  of  the  case,  can 
possess  any  rights  over  against  Him  who  causes  him  to 
exist  and  to  be  what  he  is.  Nor  can  any  creature  pos- 
sess any  rights  over  against  any  other  creature,  except 
such  as  are  given  by  God.  If  I  possess  a  right  relative 
to  my  brother,  my  brother  owes  it  to  God  to  render  it  to 
me,  and  my  possession  of  it  creates  a  new  obligation  on 
me  to  God.  Thus,  all  so-called  human  rights  are  divine 
appointments  for  our  benefit,  creating  special  duties  on 
all  sides,  which  all  the  parties  concerned  owe  directly  to 
God.  The  universe  is  an  absolute  monarchy  in  which 
absolute  moral  perfection,  interpreted  by  infinite  wisdom 
and  executed  by  infinite  power,  sits  upon  the  throne.  In 
this  realm  there  are  no  rights  but  universal  honor  and 
blessedness  secured  by  the  mutual  discharge  of  all  duties, 
all  which  spring  ultimately  from  the  will  of  God,  and 
hence  are  all  duties  owed  to  him.     The  Kino;  of  the 


THE  LAW  OF  THE  KINGDOM.  321 

kingdom  is  the  incarnate  God,  who  has  redeemed  us  by 
his  blood,  as  well  as  created  us  by  his  power.  The  only 
ultimate  right  is  his  right  to  us,  and  the  only  source  of 
law  is  the  moral  perfection  of  the  divine  nature  expressed 
in  his  will.  All  service  is  worship ;  all  righteousness  is 
service  to  him  rendered  out  of  love  and  gratitude  for  his 
redemption.  The  obligation  which  descends  upon  us 
from  his  absolute  right  and  sovereign  will  is  loyally  ac- 
cepted by  us,  and  rendered  back  in  our  loving  service  as 
the  spontaneous  tribute  of  our  hearts.  "To  the  only 
wise  God,  our  Saviour,  be  glory  and  majesty,  dominion 
and  power,  now  and  for  ever." 

IV.  This  divine  law  is  made  known  to  the  subjects 
of  the  kingdom  through  many  different  channels.  All 
these  mutually  supplement  and  corroborate  the  testimony 
of  one  another.  The  fundamental  fact  upon  which  all 
others  of  this  order  depend  is  that  man  in  his  moral  na- 
ture as  in  his  intellectual  was  created  in  "  the  likeness  of 
God."  Our  nature  is  essentially  finite  and  contingent, 
and  our  knowledge  imperfect  and  variable ;  whereas 
God's  knowledge  is  infinite,  and  his  nature  essentially 
perfect  and  absolute.  Nevertheless,  the  immanent  spon- 
taneous moral  law  of  our  intrinsic  nature  corresponds,  as 
an  imperfect  reflection,  to  the  transcendent  moral  perfec- 
tion of  God's  nature,  and  answers  obediently  to  every 
indication  of  his  will.  Sin  has  perverted  and  deterior- 
ated this  law,  but  the  voice  of  God  can  always  arouse  it 
to  intense  action ;  and  the  regenerating  and  sanctifying 
power  of  the  Holy  Ghost  restores  it  to  its  original  purity 
and  vigor ;  and  as  our  whole  nature  is  developed  into 
perfect  manhood,  into  the  measure  of  the  stature  of  the 
fullness  of  Christ,  "  the  moral  law  within  us  "  will  be 
21 


322  THE  LAW  OF  THE  KINGDOM. 

more  and  more  assimilated  to  the  divine  standard.  The 
light  of  nature,  as  reflected  even  in  the  outward  physical 
and  lower  animal  world,  and  pre-eminently  as  witnessed 
in  the  providential  course  of  human  history,  testifies  to 
the  same  eternal  principles  of  righteousness.  "  For  the 
invisible  things  of  him  from  the  creation  of  the  world 
are  clearly  seen,  being  understood  by  the  things  that  are 
made,  even  his  eternal  power  and  Godhead."  For  even 
the  Gentiles,  who  are  without  the  supernaturally  revealed 
law,  and  "  do  by  nature  the  things  contained  in  the  law, 
these  having  not  the  law  are  a  law  unto  themselves; 
which  show  the  work  of  the  law  written  in  their  hearts, 
their  conscience  also  bearing  witness,  and  their  thoughts 
the  mean  while  accusing  or  else  excusing  one  another." 

But  such  has  been  the  deteriorating  influence  of  sin 
that  "  the  law  written  on  the  heart "  and  "  the  light  of 
nature,"  although  these  remain,  no  longer  suffice  as  the 
organ  of  signifying  God's  will  to  man.  A  supernatural 
revelation  has  been  necessary  to  reveal  the  law  of  duty, 
as  well  as  to  reveal  the  method  of  salvation  through  re- 
demption. For  this  purpose  God  has  at  sundry  times 
and  in  divers  manners  spoken  unto  the  fathers  by  the 
prophets,  and  afterward  by  his  Son  whom  he  hath  ap- 
pointed heir  of  all  things,  who  being  the  brightness  of 
his  glory,  and  the  express  image  of  his  person,  and  up- 
holding all  things  by  the  word  of  his  power,  when  he 
had  by  himself  purged  our  sin,  sat  down  at  the  right 
hand  of  the  Majesty  on  high. 

The  entire  mass  of  this  prophetical  testimony,  and, 
above  all,  this  personal  self-revelation  of  God  in  Christ, 
as  represented  by  the  pen  of  inspiration  in  the  sacred 
Scriptures,  constitute  the  volume  of  the  supernaturally 


THE  LAW  OF  THE  KINGDOM.  323 

revealed  will  of  God.  This  is  the  divinely  authoritative 
and  infallible  rule  of  all  duty  as  well  as  of  all  faith. 
All  the  principles  of  duty  binding  us  are  herein  con- 
tained. Nothing  not  in  principle  commanded  in  the 
Bible  can  be  held  to  be  obligatory  on  any  Christian,  and 
all  that  is  thus  enjoined  is  obligatory  upon  every  Chris- 
tian. The  will  of  God,  as  indicated  in  the  current  lead- 
ings of  providence  and  in  the  dealings  of  his  Holy 
Spirit  with  our  hearts,  never  imposes  new  principles  of 
duty,  but  only  applies  the  general  principles  already  re- 
vealed in  the  Bible  to  the  changing  conditions  of  our 
providentially  guided  lives.  The  Bible,  the  Holy  Ghost 
dwelling  in  us,  and  providence,  the  two  latter  always 
read  in  the  light  of  the  former,  constitute  the  Christian's 
complete  organ  of  knowing  the  will  of  his  Lord.  A 
summary  of  this  moral  law,  including,  in  general  prin- 
ciple, all  the  duties  which  grow  out  of  our  relations  to 
God  and  to  our  fellow-men,  is  presented  in  the  ten  com- 
mandments, engraved  by  the  finger  of  God  on  two  tab- 
lets of  stone  on  Mount  Sinai. 

And  all  the  members  of  the  kingdom  of  God  are 
under  equal  obligations  to  obey  this  law  absolutely. 
There  are  no  classes  of  subjects,  no  allowed  degrees  of 
saintship.  We  are  all  alike  redeemed  by  one  price,  and 
under  the  same  moral  obligations  and  sanctions.  The 
ordained  minister  is  no  more  bound  to  consecrate  his 
powers  to  the  Lord  than  the  most  secular  layman.  The 
missionary  and  the  martyr  owe  no  higher  measure  of 
duty  than  the  most  self-indulgent  professor.  If  a  man 
does  not  open  his  conscience  to  every  indication  of  the 
divine  will,  and  if  he  is  not  prompt  to  obey,  he  is  an 
alien  and  not  a  subject ;  and  if  he  is  found  masquerading 


324  THE  LAW  OF  THE  KINGDOM. 

under  false  colors,  he  is  in  danger  of  being  arrested  as  a 

spy- 

This  law,  moreover,  demands  instant  and  absolute 
obedience,  not  only  from  all  classes  of  Christians,  but 
also  in  every  sphere  of  human  life  equally.  A  Christian 
is  just  as  much  under  obligation  to  obey  God's  will  in 
the  most  secular  of  his  daily  businesses  as  he  is  in  his 
closet  or  at  the  communion  table.  He  has  no  right 
to  separate  his  life  into  two  realms,  and  acknowledge 
different  moral  codes  in  each  respectively — to  say  the 
Bible  is  a  good  rule  for  Sunday,  but  this  is  a  week- 
day question,  or  the  Scriptures  are  the  right  rule  in 
matters  of  religion,  but  this  is  a  question  of  business 
or  of  politics.  God  reigns  over  all  everywhere.  His 
will  is  the  supreme  law  in  all  relations  and  actions.  His 
inspired  Word,  loyally  read,  will  inform  us  of  his  will 
in  every  relation  and  act  of  life,  secular  as  well  as  relig- 
ious, and  the  man  is  a  traitor  who  refuses  to  walk  there- 
in with  scrupulous  care.  The  kingdom  of  God  includes 
all  sides  of  human  life,  and  it  is  a  kingdom  of  absolute 
righteousness.  You  are  either  a  loyal  subject  or  a 
traitor.  When  the  King  comes  how  will  he  find  you 
doing  ? 

V.  If  we  are  asking  for  the  conditions  of  salvation 
alone,  the  law  and  the  gospel  mutually  exclude  each 
other.  For,  what  the  law  could  not  do,  in  that  it  was 
weak  through  the  flesh,  God  has  accomplished  in  the 
flesh  of  his  own  Son,  whom  he  sent  for  that  purpose  in 
the  likeness  of  sinful  flesh.  And  yet  in  this  work  both 
the  law  and  the  gospel  co-operate  in  different  ways  to  one 
end.  What,  then,  are  the  uses  of  the  moral  law  under  the 
gospel  dispensation  f 


THE  LAW  OF  THE  KINGDOM.  325 

If  man  had  never  fallen,  his  obedience  would  have 
been  wholly  spontaneous,  and  his  knowledge  of  the  will 
of  God  for  the  most  part  intuitive.  But  after  man  sinned 
it  was  necessary  that  God  should  reveal  his  will  super- 
naturally  by  his  inspired  spokesmen,  and  vindicate  it 
by  terrible  demonstrations  of  power  and  judgment.  So, 
when  Jehovah  proceeded  to  introduce  his  kiugdom  in  a 
visible  form  under  the  old  economy  through  the  ministry 
of  Moses,  he  prefaced  the  institution  of  the  ceremonial 
system,  which  is  a  shadow  of  the  gospel,  by  a  most  strik- 
ing repromulgation  of  his  moral  law  amidst  the  awful 
thunders  and  lightnings  and  earthquakes  of  Sinai. 
Never  are  the  exalted  holiness  and  inexorable  justice  of 
that  law  so  emphasized  as  when  the  law  is  shown  in  con- 
nection with  human  redemption,  as  that  which  extorts 
expiation  at  such  a  dreadful  cost  as  on  Calvary,  and  as 
that  which  demands  that  the  whole  of  human  life  must 
be  raised  to  the  height  of  such  an  inexorable  standard 
of  righteousness  as  on  Sinai. 

That  the  moral  law  still  binds  the  unregenerate,  and 
must  be  enforced  upon  them  rigorously,  has  always  been 
clearly  admitted  by  Christians.  But  there  grew  up  a 
controversy  in  the  second  generation  of  the  Lutheran 
theologians,  chiefly  resulting  from  misunderstanding  of 
the  terms  employed  relating  to  what  was  called  among 
them  the  "  Third  Use  of  the  Law."  This  all  resulted 
in  a  very  luminous  answer  being  given  to  the  ques- 
tion in  the  "  Formula  of  Concord,"  which  has  since 
been  accepted  as  true  and  wise  by  the  whole  Church. 
This  statement  recognizes  these  three  uses  of  the  law 
under  the  gospel  dispensation: 

1st.  Its  primary  use  by  its  commands  and  its  terrible 


326  THE  LAW  OF  THE  KINGDOM. 

penalties  is  to  restrain  wicked  men,  and  thus  make  hu- 
man society  possible  in  this  state  of  probation. 

2d.  Its  second  use  is  to  convince  men  of  sin  by  reveal- 
ing to  their  eyes  the  awful  whiteness  of  the  divine  holi- 
ness. In  this  light  they  see  their  own  moral  vileness 
and  the  true  measure  of  their  guilt.  This  is  the  instru- 
ment the  Holy  Spirit  uses  in  bringing  us  to  genuine  re- 
pentance and  to  the  humble,  sincere  embracing  of  Christ 
as  our  Saviour.  It  is  thus  that  the  moral  law  even  more 
efficiently  than  the  ceremonial  law  becomes  our  "  school- 
master (tutor  or  disciplinarian)  to  bring  us  to  Christ." 

3d.  The  third  use  of  the  law,  which  is  as  essential  as 
either  of  the  others,  is  that  it  should  ever  continue  in 
this  life  to  the  regenerated  and  progressively  sanctified 
Christian  the  transcendent  measure  and  test  of  right,  the 
standard  of  character  and  the  stimulus  to  effort.  To 
live  up  to  this  standard  of  excellence  is  the  goal  to 
which  the  Christian  runs,  the  prize  for  which  he  fights. 
The  all-perfect  law,  embodying  the  righteousness  of  God, 
continually  reveals  our  shortcomings,  condemns  our  cor- 
ruptions, evokes  our  repentance  and  drives  us  to  en- 
deavor. In  the  case  of  the  Christian  the  law  remains, 
although  the  motives  to  obedience  are  changed.  Our 
obedience  is  spontaneous,  our  motive  is  love ;  yet  all  the 
while  the  law  towers  above  like  the  white  glistening 
peaks  of  the  Alps,  forbidding  us  to  loiter,  summoning 
us  to  the  skies.  Our  obedience  is  possible  because  the 
Holy  Ghost  of  Christ  has  been  sent  to  dwell  in  our 
hearts  for  this  very  end.  The  obediences  we  render  are 
the  "fruits  of  the  Spirit."  We  are  not  discouraged. 
We  press  onward  to  the  absolute  fulfillment  of  all  right- 
eousness, for  all  things  are  possible  to  him  in  whom  the 


THE  LA  W  OF  THE  KINGDOM.  327 

Spirit  of  Him  dwells  who  in  our  stead  and  in  our  be- 
half has  "  fulfilled  the  law  in  the  flesh." 

VI.  Since  the  kingdom  of  God  on  earth  is  not  con- 
fined to  the  mere  ecclesiastical  sphere,  but  aims  at  abso- 
lute universality  and    extends   its    supreme  reign    over 
every  department  of  human  life,  it   follows  that  it   is 
the  duty  of  every  loyal  subject  to  endeavor  to  bring  all 
human  society,  social  and  political,  as  well  as  ecclesiasti- 
cal, into  obedience  to  its  law  of  righteousness.     It  is  our 
duty,  as  far  as  lies  in  our  power,  immediately  to  organize 
human  society  and  all  its  institutions  and  organs  upon 
a  distinctively  Christian  basis.     Indifference  or  impar- 
tiality here  between  the  law  of  the  kingdom  and  the  law 
of  the  world,  or  of  its  prince  the  devil,  is  utter  treason 
to  the   King   of  righteousness.     The  Bible,  the  great 
statute-book  of  the  kingdom,  explicitly  lays  down  prin- 
ciples which  when  candidly  applied  will   regulate  the 
action  of  every  human  being  in  all  relations.    There  can 
be  no  compromise.     The  King  said  with  regard  to  all 
descriptions  of  moral  agents  in  all  spheres  of  activity, 
"  He  that  is  not  with  me  is  against  me."    If  the  national 
life  in  general  is  organized  upon  non-Christian  principles, 
the  churches  which  are  embraced  within  the  universal 
assimilating  power  of  that  nation  will  not  long  be  able 
to  preserve  their  integrity. 

Population  increases  geometrically,  and  food  only 
arithmetically.  Capital  seeks  aggregation  in  masses; 
labor  becomes  more  plentiful  and  cheaper.  The  weaker 
goes  to  the  wall  and  the  stronger  survives.  The  masses 
crowd  into  vast  cities,  forced  by  the  irresistible  pressure 
up  into  garrets  and  under  ground  into  cellars.  Capital 
is  massed  as  never  dreamed  of  before  into  hundreds  -of 


328  THE  LAW  OF  THE  KINGDOM. 

millions.  Vast  corporations  aggregate  and  perpetuate 
the  wealth  of  kingdoms  through  succeeding  genera- 
tions. Machinery  takes  the  place  of  human  labor  in 
cultivating  the  earth  and  in  the  manufacture  and  dis- 
tribution of  all  commodities.  The  terrible  struggle  of 
competition,  directed  by  science  and  whipped  into  in- 
tensity by  steam  and  electricity,  is  assuming  propor- 
tions never  conceived  of  before  by  the  wildest  dreamer. 
The  pressure  of  the  advancing  column  is  overwhelming ; 
the  weakling  has  no  possibility  of  maintaining  his  ground. 
Combinations  are  increasing  and  assuming  a  more  threat- 
ening aspect  every  year.  In  the  old  monarchical  nations 
of  Europe  the  ships  of  state  labor  terribly  in  the  storm. 
The  experienced  navigators  propose  to  lighten  their  ships 
and  relieve  their  strain  by  throwing  overboard  obnoxious 
institutions.  They  would  grant  the  principles  of  "  nation- 
alities," of  "home  rule,"  of  land  distributed  among  the 
multitude  of  small  proprietors ;  they  would  abolish  class 
distinctions,  aristocracy  and  monarchy.  And  all  this 
may  relieve  the  stress  of  the  contest  in  Europe  for  a 
generation.  But,  alas  !  all  this  has  alreadv  been  long; 
done  in  our  America,  and  yet  the  war  has  not  slackened. 
There  remain  no  more  lumbering  abuses  for  us  to  sacri- 
fice in  the  forms  of  our  institutions.  For  a  free  republic 
like  ours  there  is  no  salvation  except  in  obedience  to  the 
principles  of  the  kingdom  of  God. 

That  kingdom  rests  ultimately  upon  the  Fatherhood 
of  God,  the  Elder  Brotherhood  and  the  redeeming  blood 
of  Christ,  and  the  universal  brotherhood  of  men.  Its 
principle  is  love.  Its  law  is  duty.  It  appeals  not  to  the 
right  of  the  weak,  but  to  the  love  and  duty  of  the  strong. 
Brothers  are  never  all  equal ;  but  true  brothers  respect, 


THE  LAW  OF  THE  KINGDOM.  329 

sympathize  with  and  love  one  another.  The  interest  of 
one  is  the  interest  of  all,  and  the  anguish  or  the  joy  of 
one  is  experienced  alike  by  all.  This  human  brother- 
hood is  essential,  it  is  eternal.  The  earthly  conditions 
which  separate  us  are  accidental  and  transient.  There  is 
no  gulf  of  ignorance  or  poverty  or  vice  which  should 
cut  off  or  modify  our  expressions  of  tender  love  and 
sympathy.  Even  the  very  least  of  these  humble  ones 
Christ  calls  brethren.  We  must  not  keep  them  at  arm's 
length,  we  must  not  neglect  their  interests,  we  must  not 
in  the  competitions  of  trade  push  them  to  the  wall.  We 
must  love  them  and  make  them  know  we  love  them,  and 
help  them  in  their  struggles  with  poverty  and  sin. 

The  kingdom  of  God  embraces  all  classes,  but  it 
recognizes  no  class  distinctions.  We  know  neither  cap- 
italists nor  laborers,  neither  rich  nor  poor,  as  such,  but 
only  men  as  men,  men  as  brothers  in  Christ  Jesus.  If 
the  rich  operator  under  the  pressure  of  competition, 
obeying  the  so-called  "  laws  of  trade,"  pays  starvation 
wages,  we  warn  him  not  as  a  rich  man,  but  as  a  brother, 
that  he  is  sinning  against  the  law  of  the  kingdom.  Our 
brothers  should,  in  spite  of  all  the  laws  and  competi- 
tions of  trade,  be  enabled  to  live  as  becomes  our  breth- 
ren while  they  do  our  work.  Charity  degrades  the  lazy 
receiver.  So  the  withholding  a  full  share  in  the  profit 
of  the  common  business  degrades  the  man  hastening  to 
get  rich.  If  the  poor  brother  joins  the  association  to 
fight  capital,  we  warn  him,  not  as  a  poor  man,  but  as  a 
brother,  of  the  duty  which  he  owes  to  his  employer,  and 
of  their  mutual  responsibilities  in  the  common  enter- 
prise. If  capitalists  combine  to  fight  labor,  laborers 
will  combine  to  fight  capital,  and  one  is  as  right  as  the 


330  THE  LAW  OF  THE  KINGDOM. 

other,  and,  whatever  may  be  hoped  for  from  a  mutual  rec- 
ognition of  their  rights,  more  is  imperatively  necessary. 
But  if  all  will  open  their  hearts  to  the  love  of  Christ, 
and  submit  their  wills  absolutely  to  the  reign  of  right- 
eousness, and  devote  themselves  to  the  performance  of 
duty  instead  of  the  vindication  of  rights,  then  the  strong 
will  bear  the  burden  of  the  weak,  and  we  will  all  together 
enjoy  a  common  prosperity,  in  which  the  sympathy  of 
all  multiplies  the  happiness  of  each.  It  is  said  that 
Socialism  is  opposed  to  religion  and  the  inviolable  sa- 
credness  of  the  family  tie.  If  so,  then  religion  and  the 
holiness  of  the  marriage  bond  are  the  great  weapons  with 
which  to  fight  Socialism.  Carry  the  cross  and  the  love 
of  Christ  into  every  home.  Practically  recognize  the 
brotherhood  in  Christ  of  every  man.  Prohibit  divorce, 
hold  sacred  the  marriage  tie.  Consecrate  your  personal 
service  and  all  your  wealth  to  the  Master's  cause.  And 
the  dark  clouds  of  threatened  anarchy  will  melt  away  into 
the  clear  sky.  It  is  too  late  to  go  back.  In  this  free  re- 
public repression  of  the  monster  of  social  chaos  by  sheer 
force  is  impossible.  In  the  grant  of  universal  suffrage 
we  have  burnt  our  ships  behind  us.  There  lie  before  us 
now  only  the  two  alternatives — either  a  war  between  the 
forces,  which  will  shatter  the  social  fabric  aud  end  in 
anarchy,  or  the  supremacy  of  the  reign  of  the  kingdom 
of  God. 

VII.  And  to  us  and  to  our  fellow-countrymen  of  this 
generation  God  has  committed  this  tremendous  trust  of 
forwarding  or  of  retarding  by  centuries  the  coming  of 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  in  all  the  world.  He  has  placed 
us  in  the  centre  of  the  field  and  at  the  crisis  of  the  bat- 
tle on  which  the  fate  of  the  kingdom  for  ages  turns. 


TEE  LA  W  OF  TEE  KINGDOM.  331 

When  human  society  was  reconstructed  after  the  de- 
struction by  the  Flood,  the  laws  of  differentiation  and 
dispersion  prevailed  for  millenniums.  At  the  Tower 
of  Babel  the  languages  were  confused  and  multiplied, 
and  the  children  of  men  driven  in  all  directions  over 
the  face  of  the  earth.  The  different  divisions  were  iso- 
lated from  one  another  by  physical  barriers,  pre-emi- 
nently by  the  Souliman  Mountains  in  Asia  and  the 
great  Desert  of  Sahara  in  Africa.  Thus,  after  the 
lapse  of  ages,  through  the  influence  of  climate  and 
other  providential  conditions,  different  permanent  vari- 
eties of  the  human  family  were  generated,  which  may 
be  grouped  under  three  great  types — the  Mongolian  of 
Eastern  Asia  and  Oceanica ;  the  African  ;  and  the  Cau- 
casian of  Western  Asia  and  Europe.  The  Caucasian 
race,  itself  divided  by  mountain-chains  and  seas  and 
distributed  on  peninsulas,  generated  innumerable  races 
and  national  varieties,  as  the  Celt,  the  Teuton,  the  Sclav, 
the  Russian,  the  French,  the  Anglo-Saxon.  Under  the 
Old  Dispensation  every  epoch-making  movement  was  di- 
visive. The  children  of  Eber  were  chosen  and  the  rest  of 
mankind  rejected.  Out  of  the  Hebrews  were  selected 
the  Israelites,  and  out  of  the  Israelites  the  Jews. 

But  when  Christ  assumed  the  reins  of  his  kingdom 
at  the  right  hand  of  the  Majesty  on  high,  the  tendency 
was  instantly  reversed.  His  commission  was,  "  Go, 
disciple  all  nations,  baptizing  them,  teaching  them,  and 
lo,  I  am  with  you  to  the  end  of  the  ages."  The  ban- 
ner of  the  kingdom  was  set  up  in  Jerusalem  and  car- 
ried throughout  the  Roman  empire,  then  throughout 
Europe,  thence  throughout  the  world.  Always  the 
standards  of  the  kingdom  have  followed  the  course  of 


332  THE  LAW  OF  THE  KINGDOM. 

empire  westward.  But  beyond  the  shores  of  our  Paci- 
fic there  is  no  more  west.  There  the  Occident  and  the 
Orient  stand  face  to  face.  The  whole  continent  is  ours, 
and  it  stands  with  all  its  mountain-chains  running  north 
and  south,  its  immense  plains,  including  all  zones  from 
the  tropics  to  the  poles,  open  to  the  free  access  of  all 
nations  and  races,  facing  the  western  migration  of  all 
the  inhabitants  of  Europe  and  Africa  on  our  eastern 
side,  and  the  eastern  migration  of  the  multitudinous 
Mongolians  on  our  western  side.  Celts,  Teutons,  Sclavs, 
Russians,  Germans,  Frenchmen,  Anglo-Saxons,  are  all 
incorporated  in  our  population.  Africans,  Mongolians, 
Caucasians,  Africa,  Asia,  Europe,  all  pour  their  tides  of 
superfluous  population  into  our  wide  areas.  Here  the 
kingdom  is  to  be  consummated  in  the  reunion  of  all  the 
varieties  of  the  long-rent  family  of  man.  Here,  where 
the  multitudinous  hosts  rally,  is  the  very  eye  of  the  bat- 
tlefield. To-day  is  the  day  of  fate,  the  crisis  of  the 
World's  history. 

At  the  beginning  God  sifted  the  foremost  nations  of 
Christendom  and  sowed  our  soil  with  the  finest  of  the 
wheat.  The  Puritans,  Huguenots,  Dutch,  Scotch-Irish, 
Episcopalians,  German  Reformed  of  the  old  Palatine 
stock,  and  the  best  of  the  Roman  Catholics  laid  the 
foundations  of  our  empire.  During  the  first  ages  re- 
ligion controlled  the  development  of  the  State.  It  was 
established  at  first  in  nearly  all  the  colonies  in  some  def- 
inite form  of  church  government.  It  was  recognized  in 
the  colonial  charters  and  in  the  constitutions  of  the  first 
States.  For  nearly  two  hundred  years  every  college  and 
almost  every  academy  was  founded  and  administered  by 
Calvinists. 


THE  LAW  OF  THE  KINGDOM.  333 

During  the  first  two  centuries  our  growth  was  slow, 
the  elements  brought  in  by  immigration  were  homoge- 
neous, and  the  process  of  assimilation  to  the  original  type 
was  rapid  and  complete.  In  the  first  one  hundred  and 
sixty  years,  from  the  colonization  of  Plymouth  Bay  to 
the  Bevolutionary  War,  the  population  only  grew  to  be 
three  millions.  It  required  nearly  fifty  years  more  to 
raise  it  to  ten  millions,  while  in  the  last  fifty  years  it  has 
increased  thirty-seven  millions,  and  at  present  it  advances 
at  the  rate  of  considerably  more  than  a  million  a  year. 
It  is  estimated  that  during  the  fifty  years  preceding  1847 
the  number  of  immigrants  did  not  amount  to  one  mil- 
lion, while  in  the  forty  years  since  that  time  more  than 
ten  millions  have  been  received.  In  the  single  year  1882 
nearly  eight  hundred  thousand  were  received.  At  pres- 
ent Dr.  Strong,  in  -his  wonderful  book  entitled  Our 
Country,  estimates  the  foreign  population,  consisting  of 
the  foreign-born  and  of  their  children,  as  fifteen  millions. 
He  calculates  that  at  the  present  rates  of  progression  the 
foreign  population  will  in  1900  amount  to  not  far  from 
forty  millions.  During  the  first  one  hundred  and  sixty 
years  only  thirteen  colonies  were  organized.  These  mul- 
tiplied to  sixteen  in  1800,  to  twenty-six  in  1840  and  to 
thirty-eight  in  1880.  Others  of  immense  size  are  de- 
manding recognition,  and  many  of  the  new  States  are 
much  larger  than  all  the  New  England  States  together. 
There  is  no  question  that  the  moral  and  spiritual  destiny 
of  the  world  depends  upon  the  moral  and  religious  char- 
acter ultimately  assumed  by  the  population  of  the  United 
States.  There  is  no  more  room  to  question  the  obvious 
fact  that  the  moral  and  religious  character  of  the  pop- 
ulations filling  the  States  aud  Territories  of  the  great 


334  THE  LAW  OF  THE  KINGDOM. 

West,  which  must  soon  control  the  whole  nation,  is  rap- 
idly forming  now,  and  must  take  its  permanent  stamp 
for  ages  within  the  next  thirty  or  forty  years. 

Men  of  this  generation,  from  the  pyramid  top  of  op- 
portunity on  which  God  has  set  us  we  look  down  on 
forty  centuries !  We  stretch  our  hand  into  the  future 
with  power  to  mould  the  destinies  of  unborn  millions. 
We  of  this  generation  occupy  the  Gibraltar  of  the  ages 
which  commands  the  world's  future. 

"  We  are  living,  we  are  dwelling, 
In  a  grand  and  awful  time, 
In  an  age  on  ages  telling — 
To  be  living  is  sublime !" 


LECTURE  XV. 

SANCTIFICATION  AND  GOOD  WORKS.— HIGHER  LIFE. 

It  is  a  great  blessing  to  be  able  to  recognize  the  fact 
that  all  the  great  historical  branches  of  the  Christian 
Church  are  very  much  united  in  their  faith  as  to  the  es- 
sentials of  the  gospel.  As  to  who  Christ  was,  as  to  what 
Christ  did,  as  to  his  Person  and  as  to  his  offices,  as  to 
his  supreme  lordship  over  the  whole  Church  and  over 
the  whole  universe  as  mediatorial  King,  Catholics  and 
Protestants  of  every  name  agree.  The  differences  chiefly 
relate  to  the  application  of  Christ's  redemption,  to  the 
method  of  its  application  and  to  the  order  in  which  the 
great  benefits  of  salvation  are  communicated  to  us  and 
realized  in  the  experience  and  life  of  the  believer. 

In  the  first  place,  I  would  say  that  rationalists  gener- 
ally— and  by  this  term  I  include  all  of  a  rationalizing 
ten  lency,  all  who  would  be  comprehended  generally  in 
theological  language  as  of  a  Pelag-ianizino;  or  Semi-Pe- 
lagianizing  tendency — maintain  the  principle  that  God's 
favor  depends  directly  and  immediately  upon  man's 
moral  character;  that  as  long  as  man  is  good  God  is 
favorable  to  him ;  that  as  soon  as  man  sins  God  comes 
into  opposition  to  him;  and  that  the  only  condition  re- 
quired for  restoration  to  the  divine  favor  is  genuine 
repentance  and  reformation. 

The  principle  universally  recognized  by  this  class  of 

335 


336         SAKCTIFICATION  AND  GOOD   WORKS. 

thinkers  is  that  becoming  good  is  the  necessary  prerequi- 
site of  being  received  again  into  favor  with  God. 

Eomanists  in  general,  of  course,  are  free  from  this 
Pelagianizing  and  rationalistic  spirit.  The  tendency  of 
Romanism  is  to  make  everything  supernatural.  The 
tendency  of  Rationalism  is  to  make  everything  natural. 

The  Romanists'  doctrine  in  the  first  place  diifers  from 
Pelagianizing  and  rationalistic  notions  by  maintaining 
that  salvation  wrought  by  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord  is  ap- 
plied only  by  a  supernatural  operation  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  working  through  certain  sacraments  which  he  has 
appointed  as  means  and  instrumentalities.  Their  doc- 
trine is,  that  without  the  sacrament  there  is  no  grace,  and 
that  all  grace  can  be  obtained  through  the  sacrament 
without  the  knowledge  of  the  truth,  and  very  much 
without  the  co-operation  of  the  subject. 

The  Society  of  Friends,  as  you  know,  go  to  the  ex- 
treme, as  we  think  it,  of  holding  that  grace  may  be  ade- 
quately experienced  without  the  use  of  this  class  of  ap- 
pointed means. 

The  position  taken  by  the  great  historical  churches 
since  the  Reformation  is  one  intermediate  between  these 
two  extremes. 

We  believe  thoroughly  that  the  grace  may  be  given 
through  the  sovereign  pleasure  of  God,  and  by  an  exer- 
cise of  divine  power  experienced  without  the  sacrament ; 
but  we  believe  the  sacraments  are  also  divine  institutions 
of  his  appointment,  and  that  they  are  therefore  univer- 
sally obligatory  and  necessary  because  of  the  obligation 
of  precept,  and  that  beyond  this  they  are  in  their  adapta- 
tion to  our  constitution  and  our  condition  very  admirably 
fitted  to  be  efficient  means  of  grace  when  intelligently 


SANCTIFICATION  AND  GOOD   WORKS.         337 

received  in  connection  with  the  truth  and  accompanied 
with  the  gracious  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

On  the  other  side,  the  Romanist  agrees  in  certain  re- 
spects with  the  rationalist.  This  comes  out  in  the  his- 
torical fact  that  they  confound  the  ideas  which  we  em- 
phasize by  the  words  justification  and  sanctification. 

The  Romanist  word  justification  which  has  come  down 
in  the  literature  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  com- 
bines in  its  meaning  all  these  ideas — to  wit,  the  forgive- 
ness of  sins,  the  establishment  of  a  state  of  favor,  the 
removal  of  indwelling  sin  and  the  communication  of 
indwelling  grace;  that  is,  all  that  is  embraced  in  our 
terms  justification,  regeneration  and  sanctification.  In 
the  nomenclature  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  all 
these  are  embraced  under  one  word,  justification ;  and 
this  opinion  coincides  with  that  which  I  have  stated  to 
be  the  common  opinion  of  rationalists  in  general,  though 
they  differ  from  rationalists  so  much  on  the  other  side  in 
regard  to  the  position  that  the  making  of  a  man  good 
must  precede  as  a  condition  his  reception  into  divine  favor. 

There  are  two  principles,  then,  in  which  the  Roman 
Catholic  doctrine  as  to  the  application  of  redemption 
stands  in  direct  contrast  and  opposition  to  what  we  call 
the  doctrine  of  the  Reformers — what  we  now  call  the 
evangelical  doctrine. 

The  Romanist  holds  that  every  individual  must  be 
first  united  to  the  Church,  and  through  the  Church  to 
Christ.  The  evangelical  believer  holds  that  every  indi- 
vidual must  be  spiritually  united  to  Christ,  and  through 
union  with  Christ  united  to  the  Church.  The  Romanist 
holds  that  through  the  grace  of  God  we  are  to  be  made 
good,  and  then,  being  made  good,  we  are  to  seek  divine 
22 


338         SANCTIFICATION  AND  GOOD   WORKS. 

favor.  Whereas  the  Protestant  evangelical  position  is, 
that  we  must  first  be  received  into  the  divine  favor,  and 
in  consequence  of  that  reception  be  made  good. 

The  Romanist  doctrine  of  justification  is  that  its  final 
cause  is  the  glory  of  God  ;  its  efficient  cause  is  the  power- 
ful operation  of  the  Holy  Spirit ;  its  formal  cause,  that 
in  which  it  consists,  the  remission  of  sins  and  infusion 
of  grace ;  its  meritorious  cause,  the  passion,  death  and 
merits  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ;  and  that  its  instru- 
mental cause  is  baptism. 

The  sacrament  acts  as  an  opus  operatum — i.  e.  by  the 
simple  grace  inherent  in  the  sacramental  act  itself.  In 
every  case  in  which  the  subject  does  not  consciously  and 
intelligently  oppose  an  obstacle  to  the  grace-effecting 
power  of  the  sacrament,  all  sin  is  removed  and  saving 
grace  is  infused.  Only  concupiscence  remains,  which 
they  deny  to  be  true  sin,  properly  so  called,  and  regard 
only  as  the  ashes  or  cinders,  the  result  of  past  sin  and 
the  cause  of  future  sin.  But  in  every  instance  and  under 
all  ordinary  conditions  they  admit  that  men  do  sin  after 
baptism,  and  then  they  provide  for  them  what  they  call 
their  second  justification,  which  is  accomplished  always 
through  the  instrumentality  of  the  sacrament  of  penance. 

If  any  of  you  want  intelligently  to  form  an  opinion 
in  regard  to  the  Roman  Catholic  theology,  you  must  re- 
member the  very  first  necessity  is  to  recognize  the  fact 
that  words  are  used  in  a  different  sense  in  the  two  sys- 
tems. You  would  do  them  great  injustice  and  bring  to 
yourself  great  confusion  if  you  should  take,  for  instance, 
justification  and  give  the  Protestant  definition  of  it,  and 
then  the  Roman  Catholic  definition  of  it,  and  put  those 
in  opposition  one  to  the  other. 


SANCTIFICATION  AND  GOOD   WORKS         339 

The  analogue  of  our  doctrine  of  justification  is  the 
Roman  Catholic  doctrine  of  penance.  Romanists  hold 
that  when  a  man  has  sinned  after  baptism  the  condition 
of  his  being  forgiven  is  that  he  shall  experience  and 
perform  repentance. 

Now,  repentance,  as  an  experience,  may  be  defined  as 
a  virtue.  That  is,  it  is  just  what  we  call  repentance,  a 
grace  wrought  by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  But 
penance  as  a  sacrament  consists  of  three  parts.  It  is  con- 
fession made  to  ■  the  party  having  jurisdiction.  It  is  an 
undergoing  of  satisfaction  as  defined  and  appointed  by 
him.  It  is  then,  finally,  receiving  absolution.  Roman- 
ists hold  that  upon  a  perfect  confession  and  repentance, 
and  upon  due  and  adequate  and  legally  appointed  satis- 
faction, the  absolution,  which,  as  pronounced,  is  not  de- 
clarative simply,  but  is  efficient,  really  removes  liability 
to  the  punishment  of  sin.  They  hold  that  God  awards 
to  all  human  sins  two  distinct  penalties,  one  eternal  and 
one  temporal.  Their  doctrine  of  the  eternal  penalty  of 
sin  is  that  it  has  already  been  suffered  and  paid  by  Jesus 
Christ  our  Lord,  and  therefore  removed  absolutely  and 
for  ever  from  all  these  members ;  but  the  temporal  pen- 
alty is  retained,  which  must  be  endured  proportionately 
by  each  sinner  for  himself.  And  thus  God  is  represented 
as  keeping  a  debit-and-credit  account  with  all  Christians, 
wherein  their  sins  in  their  various  degrees  of  turpitude 
shall  be  debit,  and  wherein  their  acts  of  benevolence  of 
various  degrees,  either  in  this  life  or  in  purgatory,  rep- 
resent the  credit,  and  a  balance  is  struck  between  these  ; 
and  in  every  case  it  must  be  finally  adjusted  on  the  side 
of  credit  to  the  individual  before  the  final  day  of  judg- 
ment. 


340         SANCTIFIOATION  AND  GOOD   WORKS. 

We  come  now  to  the  Protestant  or  evangelical  posi- 
tion. The  first  principle  that  we  hold  is  that  all  spirit- 
ual life  in  the  creature  is  conditioned  upon  his  intimate 
relation  to  and  fellowship  with  God.  If  God  is  angry 
with  us,  we  are  cut  off  from  him  and  spiritual  life  is 
impossible.  If  spiritual  life  is  to  be  restored,  it  must  be 
upon  the  condition  that  God  shall  be  first  reconciled  to 
us,  and  then  we  shall  be  restored  to  his  love. 

The  doctrine  of  the  evangelical  Church  is  that  a  man 
must  first  become  reconciled  to  God,  and  be  brought  back 
into  the  sphere  of  divine  favor,  before  he  can  receive  the 
Holy  Spirit  and  be  brought  into  union  with  God  and 
made  spiritually  good.  That  is,  the  favor  of  God  is  the 
essential  precondition  of  grace  and  holiness. 

Now,  this  is  expressed  by  saying  that  justification 
must  precede  regeneration,  and  that  regeneration  must 
precede  sanctification.  All  these  graces  are  defined  with 
wonderful  precision  and  fullness  in  our  Catechism,  which 
is  familiar  to  you  all.  Justification  is  there  declared  to 
be  an  act  of  God,  accomplished  by  one  single  divine  vo- 
lition, completed  by  one  single  act  in  each  instance.  It 
is  declared  also  to  be  an  act — a  forensic  act ;  that  is,  an 
act  of  a  Judge,  not  an  act  of  God  as  Sovereign.  It  is 
not  performed  in  the  exercise  of  prerogative  or  of  right 
as  a  Sovereign,  but  in  the  exercise  of  his  infinite  wisdom 
and  justice  in  judging  of  objective  facts.  It  is  an  act  of 
God  pronouncing  that  with  respect  to  this  person  the  law 
has  no  penal  demands — that  all  its  demands  in  the  cove- 
nant of  salvation  have  been  satisfied.  And  this  act  of 
God  proceeds  upon  his  previous  act  of  accrediting  to  the 
believer,  as  the  ground  of  his  acceptance,  the  righteous- 
ness— that  is,  all  the  result  of  the  penal  suffering  and  all 


SANCTIFICATION  AND  GOOD    WORKS.         341 

the  merit  of  the  vicarious  obedience — wrought  out  by 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

It  consequently  changes  the  relation  of  the  justified 
.person  to  the  law,  not  only  with  regard  to  the  past,  not 
tanly  with  regard  to  the  present,  but  with  regard  to  the 
whole  future.  So  that  obedience  to  the  law  is  no  longer 
the  condition  of  our  acceptance.  We  are  received  into 
the  favor  of  God  for  ever,  and  on  the  condition  of  right- 
eousness, which  has  already  been  achieved  and  which 
has  already  been  made  ours,  not  simply  in  the  purposes 
and  covenants,  but  in  the  actual  act  of  God  in  putting  it 
to  our  account  and  making  it  actually  ours. 

Now,  regeneration  follows  immediately  upon  this.  It 
is  also  an  act  of  God,  wherein  he  exercises  his  mighty 
power  in  one  single  volition ;  but  it  is  not  the  act  of  God 
as  Judge.  It  is  an  act  of  divine  creative  power,  analo- 
gous to  that  which  he  put  forth  when  he  created  man 
originally,  when  he  said,  "  Let  there  be  light,  and  there 
was  light,"  or  when  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  called  Laza- 
rus out  of  the  grave.  It  is  an  act  in  which  he  commu- 
nicates to  us  in  the  centre  of  our  soul  a  new  spiritual 
life,  which,  acting  from  within,  involves  the  whole  na- 
ture, communicates  a  new  principle  of  activity  and  a 
new  mode  of  action  to  all  the  faculties  in  all  their  func- 
tions and  in  all  their  relations. 

Sanctification  necessarily  begins  with,  and  indefinitely 
continues  as  a  consequent  of  regeneration.  It  is  not 
an  act,  but  a  work  of  God's  grace,  wherein  he  sustains 
and  develops,  perfects  and  continues,  the  work  which  he 
has  commenced.  He  himself  teaches  us  the  relation  of 
these  graces,  one  to  the  other,  by  metaphors  and  analogies 
between  the  natural  and  the  spiritual  life.    Regeneration 


342         SANCTIFIGATION  AND  GOOD   WORKS. 

is  begetting,  or,  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  the  new  birth, 
and  therein  we  are  born  babes  in  Christ.  Sanctification 
is  a  growth  under  the  sustaining  and  supporting  influ- 
ences of  the  Holy  Spirit  dwelling  within  us.  It  pro- 
ceeds in  a  twofold  process,  in  the  mortification  of  the  old 
man  and  in  the  vivification  of  the  new  man.  All  that 
remains  of  the  old  corruption  is  subdued,  and  the  prin- 
ciple of  life  which  has  been  implanted  in  us  is  gradually 
developed  in  us  in  every  faculty  and  in  every  function. 
It  involves  the  intellect,  because  sin  is  blindness.  The 
new  birth  involves  spiritual  relations,  and  the  process  of 
sanctification  is  a  process  of  illumination  whereby  we 
come  more  and  more  to  understand  the  revelations  of 
God  as  they  illuminate  both  hemispheres — both  the  earth- 
ly and  the  spiritual  horizon. 

Hence  it  involves  the  affections.  These  new  affections 
go  forth  to  new  objects,  and  gradually  these  affections,  in 
their  entirety  and  in  all  their  exercise  and  in  all  their 
functions,  are  made  pure  and  spiritual.  It  involves  also 
the  voluntary  faculties,  the  desires,  the  affections,  all  the 
faculties  of  connation  which  go  out  to  their  object  and 
issue  in  volition,  in  choice  and  purpose.  A  man  is  thus 
enabled  to  choose  the  highest  end  and  to  resist  the  evil, 
so  that  he  gradually  becomes,  not  only  more  illuminated 
with  it,  but  more  and  more  in  love  with  it  in  his  affec- 
tions, and  he  becomes  stronger  and  stronger  in  the  habit- 
ual understanding,  detection  and  rejection  of  all  evil, 
and  in  the  choice  and  in  the  achievement  of  all  good. 

Now,  every  Christian  who  really  has  experienced  the 
grace  of  Christ  must,  unless  very  greatly  prejudiced, 
recognize  the  fact  that  this  work  of  sanctification  is  the 
end  and  the  crown  of  the  whole  process  of  salvation. 


SANCTIFIGATION  AND  GOOD   WORKS.         343 

We  insist  upon  and  put  forward  distinctly  the  great  doc- 
trine of  justification  as  a  means  to  an  end.  It  is  abso- 
lutely necessary  as  the  condition  of  that  faith  which  is 
the  necessary  source  of  regeneration  and  sanctification, 
and  every  person  who  is  a  Christian  must  recognize  the 
fact  that  not  only  will  it  issue  in  sanctification,  but  it 
must  begin  in  sanctification.  This  element  must  be  rec- 
ognized as  characteristic  of  the  Christian  experience  from 
the  first  to  the  last.  And  any  man  who  thinks  that  he 
is  a  Christian,  and  that  he  has  accepted  Christ  for  justifi- 
cation, when  he  did  not  at  the  same  time  accept  Christ 
for  sanctification,  is  miserably  deluded  in  that  very  ex- 
perience. He  is  in  danger  of  falling  under  that  judg- 
ment of  which  Paul  admonishes  when  he  speaks  of  the 
wrath  of  God  coming  down  from  heaven  upon  all  un- 
godliness and  unrighteousness  of  men,  and  with  special 
reference  to  those  who  "  hold  the  truth  in  unrighteous- 
ness." 

Now,  this  process,  however,  from  its  very  nature  must 
be  a  gradual  process.  Of  course,  I  would  not  deny  that 
just  as  God  might  take  a  pebble  and  make  a  man  out  of 
it,  so  he  might  take  the  greatest  sinner  in  the  world  and 
by  the  exercise  of  his  mighty  power  make  him  in  an  in- 
stant the  greatest  saint  in  the  world.  But  I  do  say,  from 
all  we  do  know  of  God,  either  in  the  works  of  creation  or 
in  the  works  of  providence  or  in  the  Bible,  that  any  such 
conception  is  utterly  incongruous  and  outside  of  all  anal- 
ogy and  all  probability.  All  God's  working,  so  far  as 
we  know  anything  about  it,  is  historico-genetic.  He 
works  by  means.  He  works  according  to  the  lines  and 
sequences  of  natural  law. 

Now,  that  justification  should  be  an  act,  that  it  should 


344         SANCTIFICATION  AND  GOOD   WORKS. 

be  begun  and  accomplished  by  one  divine  volition,  is 
very  natural  because  it  is  unavoidable.  There  can  be  no 
degree  between  condemnation  as  a  sinner  and  acceptance 
as  a  justified  man  through  the  righteousness  of  Christ. 
If  I  stand  before  God  in  my  own  right,  I  am  utterly 
condemned.  If  I  stand  represented  in  the  vicarious 
righteousness  of  Jesus  Christ,  then  in  one  instant  I  stand 
divinely  justified,  and  far  beyond  what  I  would  have 
been  if  Adam  had  kept  his  first  estate  and  sin  had  never 
invaded  this  world. 

If  Adam  had  not  fallen  we  would  have  been  justified 
by  Adamic  righteousness.  Angels  and  archangels  now 
stand  before  God  justified  by  angelic  righteousness.  But 
Jehovah  Tsidkenu,  Jehovah  is  our  righteousness.  It  is 
not  what  you  or  I  have  done  or  will  do,  it  is  not  our 
services  in  the  past  or  promises  for  the  future,  but  it  is 
what  the  eternal  Son  of  God,  in  the  likeness  of  sinful 
flesh,  did  suffer  and  accomplish  in  the  flesh,  which  is  the 
ground  of  our  justification  and  of  our  acceptance  before 
God.  And  therefore  it  is  that  the  instant  the  sinner  be- 
lieves and  trusts  in  the  pardoning  Lord  his  righteousness 
becomes  his,  and  it  is  by  one  instant  act  which  cannot  be 
divided,  in  a  moment  which  cannot  be  analyzed  into 
degrees,  that  the  condemned  sinner  becomes  a  justified 
saint. 

The  same  must  be  true,  from  its  very  nature,  of  re- 
generation. There  must  be  an  absolute  commencement 
somewhere  when  God  was  moved  to  come  forth  out  of 
the  solitude  and  isolation  of  his  infinitude  to  lay  the 
foundations  of  the  heavens  and  the  earth.  There  must 
have  been  an  absolute  beginning ;  there  must  have  been 
one  instant  when  the  energy  of  God  went  forth  from 


SANCTIFICATION  AND  GOOD    WORKS.         345 

without  and  acted  in  the  objective  world  and  brought 
something  into  existence  that  was  not  there  before.  So 
regeneration  must  be  an  instant  act.  There  must  be  a 
time,  an  instant,  when  the  soul  is  dead.  There  must  be 
another  instant  when  the  soul  is  living.  You  know  how 
it  is  expressed  in  the  divine  Word.  It  is  creation — that 
is,  an  instant  act.  It  is  a  begetting — that  is,  an  instant 
act.  It  is  a  new  birth.  It  is  a  quickening  of  the  dead 
— that  is,  an  instantaneous  act.  But  when  this  new  life 
is  implanted  in  us,  is  it  not  evident  to  all  men  that  unless 
God  shall  work,  nothing  of  this  kind  can  take  place  ? 
This,  then,  is  a  simple  act  of  his  power,  and  from  the 
very  nature  of  the  case  must  be  instantaneous.  But 
after  it  is  implanted  in  us  there  must  be  a  gradual  pro- 
cess by  which  that  grace  that  is  implanted  in  us,  exhib- 
iting itself  as  an  energy  in  every  one  of  the  faculties, 
takes  possession  of  the  whole  being,  shows  its  gradual 
and  repeated  action  in  all  the  habits  of  the  life,  and  at 
last  comes  forth  in  its  spontaneity  as  a  complete  and 
finished  result. 

The  same  is  clear  from  the  precepts  of  God  wherein 
he  commands  us  to  work  out  our  own  salvation  with 
fear  and  trembling ;  in  which  he  commands  us  to  avail 
ourselves  of  all  the  means  of  grace  which  he  has  especi- 
ally appointed  as  the  great  means  of  sanctification. 

The  truth  of  God  acts  upon  us,  of  course,  in  every 
way  according  to  the  nature  of  the  truth  which  acts. 
The  commands  act  upon  us  in  one  way,  the  threatenings 
act  upon  us  in  another  way,  and  the  promises  act  upon 
us  in  another  way,  and  the  glimpses  of  divine  glory  act 
upon  us  in  another  way.  Retrospects  of  the  past  and 
the  prospects  of  the  future  all  act  upon  the  regenerated 


346         SANCTJFICATION  AND  GOOD   WORKS. 

Christian  and  stimulate  his  activity  in  various  ways. 
And  so  it  is  with  the  providences  of  God.  The  Lord 
leads  us,  you  know,  by  devious  ways  through  our  pil- 
grimage, and  he  appoints  for  us  all  our  changes. 

Now,  under  all  these  conditions  God  is  carrying  on 
the  process  of  sanctification.  We  are  gradually  growing 
up  and  adding  grace  to  grace,  going  from  one  degree  of 
knowledge  to  another,  from  the  acquisition  of  one  incre- 
ment of  strength  to  another,  from  the  development  of 
one  faculty  to  another,  just  as  a  child  grows,  just  as 
Jesus  grew  himself,  in  wisdom  and  stature.  First  we 
are  babes  in  Christ,  and  come  at  last  to  the  measure  of 
the  stature  of  perfect  manhood  in  Christ. 

But  every  one  can  see  that  a  Christian,  while  he  rec- 
ognizes that  this  work  must  be  a  growth,  recognizes  that 
we  cannot  compromise  with  any  evil.  It  is  perfectly 
evident  that  the  standard  of  sanctification  in  the  Chris- 
tian life,  which  is  at  once  placed  before  him  when  he 
first  receives  Christ,  is  the  standard  of  infinite  and  of 
absolute  perfection.  There  can  be  from  the  very  nature 
of  the  case  no  compromise  here,  and  it  must  be  recog- 
nized as  such  from  the  first. 

This  results  from  the  nature  of  moral  principle  and 
moral  obligation.  It  is  very  plain  that  all  that  is  moral 
is  obligatory.  That  is  what  the  word  means.  If  a  thing 
is  right,  it  ought  to  be ;  and  if  it  is  right  in  its  entirety, 
then  it  ought  to  be  in  its  entirety. 

St.  Augustine  said  fourteen  hundred  years  ago — and 
the  language  has  never  been  improved — "  Every  lesser 
good  has  an  essential  element  of  sin."  Now,  for  in- 
stance, suppose  that  you  love  God.  Suppose  that  there 
is  nothing  in  your  heart  but  love  to  God.     It  does  not 


SANCTIFICATION  AND  GOOD   WORKS.         347 

follow  that  you  do  not  sin.  You  say,  "I  love  God, 
and  there  is  nothing  in  my  heart  but  love  to  God.  Is 
not  love  right?"  Yes,  if  you  love  God  with  all  your 
heart,  with  all  your  mind,  and  with  all  your  strength 
and  with  all  your  manhood.  But  if  there  be  in  this  love 
any  defect ;  if  it  come  short  in  quality  ;  if  it  come  short 
in  quantity, — then  it  partakes  of  the  nature  of  sin,  for 
every  lesser  good,  as  well  as  every  degree  of  good  short 
of  perfection,  is  of  the  essential  nature  of  sin  itself. 
Therefore  if  any  Christian  should  say,  "  Why,  we  can- 
not be  perfect — that  is  impossible.  Nobody  is  perfect. 
I  will  not  succeed  if  I  try,  and  therefore  I  will  sit  down 
with  a  qualified  obedience ;  I  will  mix  water  with  my 
milk ;  I  will  mix  half-heartedness  with  my  endeavor ;  I 
will  compromise  the  standard,  because  the  perfect  stand- 
ard is  absolutely  impossible," — why,  that  man  is  selling 
his  soul  to  the  devil  in  doing  this  ;  he  is  making  a  com- 
pact with  sin  in  the  very  nature  of  it.  Any  permitted 
sin,  any  sitting  down  willingly  to  imperfectness,  is  of 
the  nature  of  sin,  and  unallowable. 

I  am  not  lowering  the  standard.  Now,  the  Perfec- 
tionist people  lower  the  standard  to  themselves.  I  re- 
member that  I  had  a  Perfectionist  a  member  of  my 
church  when  I  was  a  very  young  man,  and  in  conversa- 
tion she  said  to  me,  "  Mr.  Hodge,  you  must  keep  up  the 
standard." — "  Oh  yes,"  said  I,  "  you  must  keep  up  the 
standard.  You  say  Mr.  Smith  is  perfect — that  is  your 
standard.  I  say  that  only  Jesus  Christ  is  perfect — that 
is  my  standard.  Which  of  us,  then,  keeps  up  the  stand- 
ard ?" 

The  Perfectionists,  all  of  them,  confound  justification 
and  sanctification   miserably,  just  as  Roman  Catholics 


348         SANCTIFICATION  AND  GOOD   WORKS. 

do ;  only  they  do  it  in  an  informal,  illogical  way ;  but 
they  do  it. 

They  hold  that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  or  that  God, 
for  the  sake  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  has  graciously 
lowered  the  demands  of  the  law.  They  admit  that  we 
cannot  fulfill  the  Adamic  law  under  which  God  created 
man ;  but  they  say  that  we  can  fulfill  the  gospel  law, 
that  we  can  render  a  perfect  love,  and  the  evangelical 
standard  is  lowered  to  conform  to  our  standard.  This 
is  an  act  of  substitution  of  a  new  thing.  That  is  a  mis- 
erable lowering  of  the  standard.  It  is  putting  a  new 
and  lower  standard  in  the  place  of  the  old  and  higher 
standard. 

Now,  the  truth  is  that  this  law  has  never  been  lowered, 
the  principle  of  the  law  by  which  moral  character  is  to 
be  measured  having  its  norm  in  the  absolutely  perfect 
moral  constitution  of  God  himself.  God's  law  is  an  ut- 
terance, it  is  an  expression  of  God  himself  in  the  forms 
of  human  thought  and  language;  it  reveals  to  man  the 
infinitely  perfect  moral  nature  of  God  himself.  And 
when  God's  law  is  altered,  and  so  altered  and  modified 
that  God  is  compromised,  that  moral  character  has  been 
modified  and  has  been  compromised  in  the  very  throne 
of  the  universe  itself.  It  is  true  that  the  law  has  been 
satisfied  for  us  for  our  justification,  that  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  has  been  substituted  in  our  place.  But  the  law 
was  not  lowered — it  was  magnified,  it  was  made  honor- 
able ;  so  that  what  a  man  could  not  do  in  that  he  was 
weak  through  the  flesh,  God  has  done  by  giving  his  Son 
in  the  flesh.  But  it  was  by  perfect  obedience  and  by  the 
vicarious  sufferings  of  Jesus  Christ  that  this  debt  was 
paid,  and  fully  paid  by  the  terms  of  the  law.     But  this 


SANCTIFICATION  AND  GOOD   WORKS.         349 

refers  to  the  law  as  a  covenant  of  salvation ;  it  does  not 
refer  to  the  law  as  a  moral  standard  of  character.  St. 
Paul  said,  in  his  Epistle  to  the  Romans  (6  :  14),  "Sin 
shall  not  have  dominion  over  you,  because  you  are  not 
under  the  law,  but  under  grace."  He  is  referring  to 
justification;  he  is  not  referring  to  sanctification.  He 
does  not  say  that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  satisfied  the  law 
in  your  behalf,  and  that  therefore  the  law  has  no  more 
demands  upon  you  ;  but  he  says  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
satisfied  the  law  as  a  covenant  in  your  behalf.  But  the 
law,  as  a  standard  of  character,  remains  the  same  infinite, 
perfect  law,  having  its  ground  and  norm  in  the  infinite 
and  perfect,  in  the  absolutely  unchangeable,  nature  of 
God  himself. 

The  same  thing  is  proved  by  the  fact  that  the  Bible 
tells  us  that  God  himself  is  the  standard.  How  can 
anybody  claim  to  be  perfect  when  God  is  the  standard, 
or  claim  that  the  law  is  to  be  lowered  ?  We  are  to  be 
holy  as  our  Father  in  heaven  is  holy.  We  are  told 
to  lay  aside  every  weight  and  the  sin  that  doth  most 
easily  beset  us,  and  run  with  patience  the  race  that  is  set 
before  us,  looking  unto  Jesus  as  our  standard  and  our 
aim  and  glory.  Then,  as  Christ's  perfection  was  an 
absolute  perfection,  why  of  course  the  perfection  of  the 
Christian  can  be  nothing  less  than  absolute  perfection. 
As  Christians,  therefore,  we  cannot  compromise  with 
sin.  No  man  can  serve  God  and  Mammon.  No  ser- 
vice is  admitted  from  the  first,  not  even  in  the  recruits, 
from  those  who  come  with  a  divided  heart.  We  are  to 
leave  the  things  which  are  behind,  and  to  reach  forward 
always  to  the  things  which  are  before,  in  order  that  we 
may  apprehend   and   realize   that  whereunto  we   have 


350         SANCTIFICATION  AND  GOOD   WOEKS. 

been  apprehended  in  the  purposes  and  in  the  design 
of  Christ. 

Especially  is  it  our  privilege  and  duty  to  go  forward 
to  the  attainment  of  perfect  assurance,  making  our  call- 
ing and  election  sure. 

There  are  two  different  positions  occupied  in  Chris- 
tendom on  this  subject  of  faith  and  assurance.  Some 
have  held  that  assurance  is  of  the  essence  of  faith,  and 
that  a  man,  if  he  is  a  Christian  at  all,  will  know  that 
he  is  a  Christian.  This  was  a  form  of  thinking  very 
prevalent  at  the  time  of  the  Reformation.  It  grew  out 
of  the  fact  that  they  were  more  earnest,  spontaneous 
men  than  they  were  reflective  Christian  divines.  It  is 
a  matter  of  fact  that  at  that  period  of  Church  history 
there  were  men  in  whom  this  grace  of  assurance  of  sal- 
vation was  very  prominent.  They  did  have  it,  and 
God  gave  it  to  them,  because  he  gave  them  an  herculean 
work  to  do  which  demanded  heroes  for  its  performance. 

In  direct  opposition  to  this  the  Romanists  take  the 
position  that  assurance  of  personal  salvation  is  impos- 
sible, and  they  take  it  on  this  ground  :  assurance  means 
absolute  certitude,  grounded  upon  divine  revelation. 
The  Romanists  point  out  the  fact  that  there  is  no  text 
in  the  Bible  where  it  is  said  that  John  Smith  is  a  Chris- 
tian. The  fact  that  any  man  is  a  Christian  is  not  a  mat- 
ter of  divine  revelation. 

Now,  our  Confession  of  Faith  takes  the  middle 
ground,  and  I  think  the  right  ground,  that  assurance 
is  not  of  the  essence  of  faith.  And  this  is  very  plain, 
because  the  Bible  makes  the  distinction  between  the  as- 
surance of  faith  and  the  assurance  of  hope.  Assurance 
of  faith  is  strong,  full  faith ;  assurance  of  hope  is  an 


SANCTIFICATION  AND  GOOD   WORKS.         351 

inference  from  that.  Faith  terminates  on  the  ground 
of  assurance ;  hope  terminates  upon  the  object  desired. 
Faith  is  the  foundation  of  hope,  but  faith  and  hope  are 
not  the  same  thing ;  they  do  not  go  out  in  parallel  lines 
with  one  another  and  take  hold  of  the  same  object.  As- 
surance of  faith  is  assured  faith,  but  assurance  of  hope 
is  the  conviction  that  we  are  Christians  and  that  we  are 
objects  of  divine  love  and  heirs  of  divine  glory.  It  can 
be  put,  like  any  other  point  of  reasoning,  in  the  form 
of  a  syllogism.  It  is  a  matter  of  absolute  revelation 
that  he  that  believes  in  Christ  is  saved.  This  is  the 
major  proposition  of  the  syllogism.  The  minor  prop- 
osition is,  "  I  believe."  That  has  no  need  of  revela- 
tion ;  it  belongs  to  the  inner  consciousness.  Am  I  not  just 
as  sure  that  I  believe  as  I  am  sure  that  my  pulses  beat? 
You  put  the  minor  under  the  major  proposition,  and  the 
infallible  conclusion  is,  "  Therefore  I  am  saved." 

Our  Confession  says  that  this  infallible  assurance 
springs  up  in  the  heart  in  consequence  of  three  elements 
meeting  together.  The  first  is  strong  faith  in  the  Word 
of  God ;  second,  the  consciousness  of  the  possession  of 
those  graces  to  which  the  promises  are  annexed.  It  is 
not  simply  faith ;  the  Bible  is  full  of  promises,  and 
they  are  addressed,  not  to  persons  named,  but  to  char- 
acters. Whosoever  loveth,  whosoever  believeth,  who- 
soever obeyeth,  whosoever  trusteth,  whosoever  hopeth. 
Well,  if  I  hope  and  trust  and  obey  and  love,  the  con- 
sciousness of  possessing  these  graces  gives  me  the  assur- 
ance of  the  promises  which  God  has  annexed  to  the 
graces.  Then,  in  the  third  place,  there  is  that  mysteri- 
ous and  royal  gift,  the  witness  together  with  our  spirit 
of  the  Holy  Spirit. 


352         SANCTIFICATION  AND  GOOD   WORKS. 

Like  all  similar  truths,  this  may  be  abused  fanatic- 
ally aud  claimed  ignorantly  by  very  stupid  persons  to 
whom  it  does  not  apply.  But  it  is  in  the  Word  of  God ; 
it  does  belong  to  some  person,  and  there  must  be  a  way 
of  finding  out  and  testing  this.  It  is  the  witnessing  to- 
gether of  our  spirit  with  the  Spirit  of  God.  You  can- 
not confound  these  two  personalities;  my  spirit  and 
Jehovah's  Spirit — we  are  two.  But  if  the  Spirit  of 
God  as  a  Person  comes  to  my  spirit  as  a  person,  and 
bears  witness  together  with  my  spirit  that  I  am  a  child 
of  God,  I  have  the  utmost  certitude.  Of  course  we 
must  guard  against  misconception ;  there  is  no  point  in 
which  it  is  more  necessary  for  us  to  apply  critical  tests. 
There  is  no  state  of  mind  which  is  more  to  be  desired, 
which  more  immediately  tends  to  sanctification,  which 
develops  more  power,  and  is  in  a  wider  sense  the  pre- 
condition of  great  usefulness,  than  that  which  is  charac- 
terized by  the  words  assurance  of  hope,  and  which  re- 
sults from  the  witnessing  with  our  spirit  of  the  Spirit 
of  God.  Per  contra,  there  is  no  state  of  mind  so  dan- 
gerous and  profane,  and  which  leads  more  to  sin,  than 
that  wicked,  conceited  assumption  which  we  meet  some- 
times in  unholy  and  godless  persons,  when  they  claim  to 
know  that  they  are  the  favorites  of  Heaven,  because 
they  have  conceived  they  had  the  witness  of  the  Spirit. 
We  are  all  liable  to  this  abuse ;  we  are  moved  to  it  by 
the  natural  operation  of  self-love.  We  all  want  to  be 
"  the  sons  of  God  and  joint-heirs  with  Jesus  Christ." 
We  all  want  to  have  the  question  settled. 

Then,  again,  it  is  not  only  the  tendency  of  an  inno- 
cent self-love,  but  also  of  pride,  and  it  may  be  the  se- 
duction of  Satan ;  because  when  he  wants  to  take  a  per- 


SANCTIFWATION  AND  GOOD   WORKS.         353 

son  into  his  grasp  entirely,  what  better  thing  can  he  do 
than  to  render  him  morally  callous  and  fill  him  with 
presumptuous  self-assurance  ? 

How  are  you  aud  I  to  know  ?  I  think  the  first  essen- 
tial mark  of  the  difference  between  true  and  false  assur- 
ance is  to  be  found  in  the  fact  that  the  true  works  humil- 
ity. There  is  nothing  in  the  world  that  works  such 
satanic,  profound,  God-defiant  pride  as  false  assurance; 
nothing  works  such  utter  humility  or  brings  to  such 
utter  self-emptiness  as  the  child-like  spirit  of  true  as- 
surance. Surely  this  can  be  known.  If  a  person  is 
self-confident,  there  is  self-assurance;  if  there  is  any 
evidence  of  pride  in  connection  with  his  claim,  it  is  a 
most  deadly  mark;  it  is  the  plague-spot  which  marks 
death  and  corruption.  But  if  there  is  utter  humility 
you  have  the  sign  of  the  true  spirit. 

This  will  manifest  itself  in  connection  with  another 
mark.  If  one  is  really  united  to  Christ  in  a  union  so 
established  that  Christ  is  indeed  in  possession  of  the  soul, 
the  whole  consciousness  will  be  taken  up  with  what  I 
would  call  Christ-consciousness,  and  there  will  be  no 
self-consciousness.  Little  children  are  very  prompt  to 
show  their  character.  There  is  a  great  difference  in  them. 
Bring  a  child  into  the  room.  She  comes  thinking  about 
nothing  in  particular,  looking  at  her  mother,  then  look- 
ing at  the  guests  or  anything  that  objectively  strikes  her, 
not  thinking  of  herself.  That  is  pure,  sweet  and  lovely. 
She  grows  older,  and  she  comes  to  think  of  herself  and 
what  people  think  of  her,  and  her  manner  has  lost  its 
unconsciousness.  A  great  deal  of  what  you  call  bashful- 
ness  is  rottenness  at  the  heart ;  it  is  self-consciousness. 
Nothing  in  the  world  so  tends  to  defile  the  imagination, 

23 


354         S A  NOTIFICATION  AND  GOOD    WORKS. 

to  pervert  the  affections  and  to  corrupt  the  morals  as 
self-consciousness.  You  know  it  is  connected  with  every 
diseased  and  morbid  action  of  the  body. 

A  young  woman  told  me  that  she  wanted  the  witness 
of  the  Spirit,  and  she  talked  about  it  everlastingly ;  she 
wanted  to  tell  her  own  experience  and  feelings  always. 
I  told  her  she  must  forget  herself,  not  think  of  her  own 
feelings.  The  man  who  is  talking  about  his  love  un- 
ceasingly has  no  love ;  the  man  who  is  talking  about  his 
faith  unceasingly  has  no  faith ;  the  two  things  cannot  go 
together.  When  you  love,  what  are  you  thinking  about? 
Are  you  not  thinking  about  the  object  of  your  love? 
And  when  you  believe,  what  are  you  thinking  about? 
Why,  the  object  that  you  believe.  Suppose  you  ask 
yourself,  "Am  I  believing  ?"  Why,  of  course  you  are 
not  believing  when  you  are  thinking  of  believing.  No 
human  being  believes  except  when  he  thinks  about  Christ. 
Am  I  loving?  Of  course  I  am  not  loving  when  I  am 
thinking  about  loving;  no  human  being  loves  except 
when  he  is  thinking  about  Christ  as  the  object  of  his 
love. 

In  Virginia  I  once  saw  one  human  being  iu  whom 
there  was  the  perfect  work  of  grace,  as  far  as  I  could  see 
as  her  pastor,  and  I  was  intimate  with  her  six  years. 
Even  on  earth  she  was  one  of  those  who  had  made  their 
garments  white  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb,  and  she  seemed 
always  to  walk  upon  the  verge  of  heaven.  I  never  heard 
her  speak  of  any  one  particular  of  her  character  or  of  her 
own  graces.  I  have  come  out  of  the  pulpit  when  the 
congregation  had  gone,  and  have  found  her  upon  her 
knees  in  her  pew,  absolutely  unconscious  of  all  external 
objects,  so  far  was  she  absorbed  in  worship.     AVhen  I 


SANCTIFICATION  AND  GOOD   WOFtKS.         355 

roused  her  from  her  trance,  she  cried  instantly,  "  Is  he 
not  holy  ?  is  he  not  glorious  ?  is  he  not  beautiful  ?  is  he 
not  infinite  ?"  She  did  not  speak  of  her  own  love  or  of 
her  feelings.  A  great  deal  of  Perfectionism  is  rotten  to 
the  core.  All  self-consciousness  is  of  the  very  essence 
and  nature  of  sin.  Then,  again,  true  confidence  leads 
necessarily  to  strong  desires  for  more  knowledge  and 
more  holiness,  for  unceasing  advances  of  grace. 

I  was  told  once,  in  a  congregation  where  I  preached, 
that  I  need  not  tell  a  certain  young  man  anything  about 
religion  ;  he  had  finished  it — that  is,  that,  having  finished 
it,  he  found  nothing  else  to  do.  That  is  what  the  word 
"  perfect "  means.  Now,  when  a  man  has  finished  eter- 
nal life,  when  he  has  finished  learning  all  the  revelation 
of  God,  when  he  has  experienced  all  the  infinite  benefits 
of  Christ's  redemption,  when  he  has  finished  all  the 
mysterious  work  of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  his  heart,  he 
ought  to  be  annihilated.  There  is  no  place  in  heaven  or 
on  earth  for  such  a  man.  But  a  man  who  really  has  the 
love  of  God  in  his  heart  is  always  reaching  forward  to 
the  things  which  are  before.  The  more  he  loves,  the 
more  he  wants  to  love ;  the  more  he  is  consecrated,  the 
more  consecration  he  longs  for.  He  has  grand  ideas  and 
grand  aims,  but  they  lie  beyond  him  in  heaven. 

I  want  to  speak  now  about  Antinomianism.  There 
are  two  forms  of  Antinomianism,  but  they  are  the  same 
thing.  One  has  been  called  Neo-nomianism  and  the 
other  Antinomianism. 

Antinomianism  is  the  doctrine  that  Christ  has  so  sat- 
isfied the  law  for  us  that  it  is  abolished ;  that  having 
gone  to  Christ  we  are  washed  and  cleansed,  and  we  may 
do  as  we  please,  because  Christ  has  in  every  sense  so  ful- 


356         SANCTIFICATION  AND  GOOD   WORKS. 

filled  the  law  that  it  has  uo  more  dominion  over  us.  That 
is  called  Antinomianism. 

It  has  been  very  common  for  Arminians  to  charge 
upon  Calvinism  the  doctrine  of  Antinomianism.  We 
repudiate  it.  We  say  with  Paul  of  the  man  who  says, 
"  Let  us  continue  in  sin  that  grace  may  abound,"  his 
damnation  is  sure. 

Neo-nomiauism  is  a  substitution  of  a  new  and  lower 
law  for  the  infinite  law  of  God.  The  law  is  the  abso- 
lute perfection  which  God  has  put  before  us,  and  they 
lower  the  standard  when  they  teach  a  lower  doctrine 
with  regard  to  sin. 

The  other  view  is  that  God  has,  for  Christ's  sake,  not 
abolished  the  law,  but  he  has  substituted  a  new  law,  and 
that  in  place  of  the  law  of  absolute  perfection  things  are 
adjusted  to  the  nature  of  man  in  his  present  state. 

This  is  the  doctrine  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church, 
and  the  doctrine  also  of  many  pretenders  to  perfection  ; 
it  is  the  precise  doctrine  of  the  "  higher  life "  under  a 
different  name. 

Of  course,  there  can  be  no  controversy  if  you  mean 
really  higher  life.  We  all  believe  in  that;  we  all  preach 
it.  "  Go  on  unto  perfection ;"  "  Leave  the  things  which 
are  behind ;"  strive  after  holiness  in  every  direction. 
But  if  you  say  you  have  attained  to  it,  and  that  higher 
life  is  just  what  I  see  embodied  in  the  lives  of  A,  B  and 
C,  I  say  that  is  the  very  opposite.  It  is  not  a  higher 
life;  it  is  a  lower  life. 

It  is  wrong,  because  it  substitutes  a  lower  standard. 
It  is  wrong,  because  it  gives  you  a  false  idea  of  sin,  for 
sin  means  "any  want  of  conformity"  to  the  absolute 
standard  of  God.     Every  one  is  a  sinner.     John  Wes- 


SANCTIFICATION  AND  GOOD   WORKS.         357 

ley  admits  that ;  everybody  admits  that.  If  you  use  the 
word  "  sin  "  in  the  sense  of  a  real,  deliberate  choice  of 
evil,  then  perhaps  some  men  may  not  be  sinners  in  that 
sense. 

But  even  Dr.  George  Peck,  whose  book  is  a  standard 
with  regard  to  the  doctrine  of  Perfectionism  among  Ar- 
minians,  says :  "  In  the  life  of  the  most  perfect  Christian 
there  is  every  day  renewed  occasion  for  self-abhorrence, 
for  repentance,  for  renewed  application  to  the  blood  of 
Christ,  for  application  of  the  rekindling  of  the  Holy 
Spirit."  What  is  the  use  of  calling  that  perfection  ? 
We  do  go  on  unto  perfection,  and  we  grow  better  and 
better  every  day ;  but  every  day  we  come  so  far  short 
that  there  is  renewed  occasion  for  having  recourse  to  the 
standard  of  perfection.  We  require  the  renewed  appli- 
cation of  the  blood  of  Christ  and  the  grace  of  the  Spirit. 
We  do  not  call  this  perfection.  But  you  say,  Why  make 
a  point  of  telling  people  they  cannot  be  perfect  ?  I  say 
we  do  not  make  a  point  of  telling  people  they  cannot  be 
perfect.  I  open  the  Bible  and  it  says,  Move  on  ;  "  for- 
getting the  things  which  are  behind,"  go  forward. 
When  a  man  can  show  that  he  is  doing  this,  he  is  going 
on  to  perfection.  I  would  not  preach  that  you  cannot 
be  perfect,  but  I  would  preach  to  you,  Have  no  stand- 
ard of  perfection  but  Almighty  God  and  Jesus  Christ  his 
Son.  That  is  the  doctrine.  Perfectionism  is  pernicious 
and  evil,  because  it  is  false.  It  is  not  true,  and  every 
lie  does  harm.  A  lie  that  touches  the  very  quick  and 
centre  of  religious  experience  is  of  the  very  nature  of 
death  itself. 

A  man  recently  died  in  London  who  held  this  doc- 
trine.    He  was  once  my  guest  in  America.     I  loved 


358        SANCTIFICATION  AND  GOOD   WORKS. 

him.  I  was  his  guest  in  London.  But  I  thought  he 
knew  no  more  of  theology  than  a  babe ;  yet  he  was  try- 
ing to  teach  others  when  he  ought  to  have  been  taught 
himself.  He  said  that  we  all  receive  Christ  twice.  We 
receive  him  for  our  justification,  and  afterward,  we  receive 
him  for  our  sanctification ;  and  he  tried  to  illustrate  it  in 
a  great  many  instances.  He  spoke  of  D'AubignS, 
Thomas  Chalmers  and  Mrs.  Jonathan  Edwards. 

Now,  it  is  very  remarkable  that  nearly  all  the  most 
perfect  saints  never  themselves  knew  their  own  perfec- 
tion. Mrs.  Edwards  was  all  the  time  aspiring  for  per- 
fection which  was  beyond  her,  and  never  thought  for  an 
instant  that  she  was  perfect.  D'Aubign^  never  heard  of 
the  grace  of  justification  without  sanctification.  And  if 
you  could  have  talked  to  Dr.  Chalmers,  with  his  great 
heart  and  glowing  tongue,  on  such  a  theme  as  this,  he 
would  have  struck  it  down  into  the  dust.  It  is  not  true. 
You  cannot  take  Christ  for  justification  unless  you  take 
him  for  sanctification.  Think  of  the  sinner  coming  to 
Christ  and  saying,  "  I  do  not  want  to  be  holy ;"  "  I  do 
not  want  to  be  saved  from  sin ;"  "  I  would  like  to  be 
saved  in  my  sins ;"  "  Do  not  sanctify  me  now ;"  "  But 
justify  me  now."  What  would  be  the  answer  ?  Could 
he  be  accepted  by  God?  You  can  no  more  separate 
justification  from  sanctification  than  you  can  separate 
the  circulation  of  the  blood  from  the  inhalation  of  the 
air.  Breathing  and  circulation  are  two  different  things, 
but  you  cannot  have  one  without  the  other ;  they  go  to- 
gether and  they  constitute  one  life.  So  you  have  justifi- 
cation and  sanctification ;  they  go  together  and  they  con- 
stitute one  life.  If  there  was  ever  one  who  attempted 
to  receive  Christ  with  justification  and  not  with  sanctifi- 


SANCTIFICATION  AND  GOOD   WORKS.       359 

cation,  lie  missed  it,  thank  God  !  He  was  no  more 
justified  than  he  was  sanctified. 

The  whole  process  is  the  reverse  of  sanctification  in 
its  very  essence ;  for  the  more  a  man  grows  in  sanctifica- 
tion, the  more  delicate  is  his  sensibility,  the  more  exqui- 
site his  sense  of  sin.  A  man  who  has  been  in  a  swoon, 
utterly  dead  to  sensation,  recovers  his  sensations  grad- 
ually. As  he  becomes  more  and  more  conscious,  he 
gradually  perceives  everything  that  is  wrong  with  him. 
So  the  more  a  man  is  sanctified,  the  more  is  there  a 
change  in  his  judgment;  it  becomes  more  discriminating, 
and  the  more  humble  will  be  his  estimate  of  himself. 
Things  which  did  not  appear  to  be  sin  at  first  will  be 
realized  as  sin  afterward  more  and  more. 

Those  who  say,  "  We  have  already  attained  and  are 
already  perfect,"  lower  the  standard ;  instead  of  sanctifi- 
cation, it  is  pollution  ;  instead  of  a  higher  life,  it  is  a 
lower  life.  Again,  it  necessarily  generates  increasing 
self-consciousness  and  spiritual  pride ;  these  things  run 
together,  and  will  go  out  at  last  in  utter  darkness. 

You  can  all  understand  the  ripening  of  the  pear. 
There  is  a  ripening  which  goes  on  in  the  autumn  of  the 
year  which  is  perfect,  and  perfectly  ripe  fruit  is  one  of 
the  most  perfect  and  beautiful  things  in  nature.  It  is  a 
gradual  process  from  the  blossom  through  all  the  differ- 
ent stages.  You  could  not  hasten  it.  It  is  growing  on 
in  the  sunshine  and  when  the  dews  of  heaven  descend 
upon  it.  The  ripening  is  perfect ;  and  when  you  take 
it  from  the  limb  you  say,  "  Thank  God,  this  is  perfect ; 
it  has  run  through  all  the  stages ;  it  has  omitted  none, 
it  has  come  to  the  end,  it  is  finished."  But  you  go 
sometimes  and  you  find  pears  early  ripe,  and  they  have 


360         SANCTIFICATION  AND  GOOD   WORKS. 

a  sweet  and  luscious  self-consciousness  of  it,  and  they 
fall  clown  flat  on  the  earth  and  are  soft,  because  there  is 
a  worm  at  the  core.  My  good  grandmother  used  to  say, 
and  I  think  now  it  is  worth  repeating,  "  I  do  hate  the 
early-ripes." 


LECTURE  XVI. 

THE  SACRAMENTS. 

Baptism. 

As  we  have  seen  before,  in  Lecture  IX.,  that  the 
Church  and  kingdom  of  God  rest  upon  a  covenant,  it  is 
evidently  appropriate  that  Christ  should  provide  visible 
seals  by  which  that  covenant  should  be  ratified  and  its 
benefits  symbolized  to  all  who  accept  its  terms.  We 
have  seen  also,  under  Lecture  XIV.,  that  the  true  Church 
is  designed  by  God  to  organize  itself  uuder  his  law, 
under  varying  historical  conditions,  in  outward  visible 
communities :  it  is  evident,  therefore,  that  it  is  to  be 
expected  that  Christ  should  give  to  his  Church  certain 
divinely-appointed  and  universally-recognized  badges 
of  membership  by  which  they  are  to  be  distinguished 
from  others. 

The  word  "  sacrament "  is  not  in  the  Bible,  and  there- 
fore the  meaning  of  that  term,  and  of  the  other  terms  by 
which  the  class  comprising  baptism  and  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per have  been  designated,  must  be  determined  from  the 
general  usage  of  the  Church. 

I.  They  have  been  called  "  mysteries  "  by  a  very  nat- 
ural association.  The  mysteries  were  the  secrets  of 
Grecian  religious  rites,  which  could  not  possibly  be  dis- 
covered by  the  uninitiated,  but  which  were,  while  jeal- 

361 


362  THE  SACRAMENTS. 

ously  guarded  from  the  outsider,  gradually  revealed  to 
the  initiated  iu  proportion  to  his  grade  of  membership. 
The  early  pastors  of  the  primitive  Church  were  sur- 
rounded by  heathen  communities.  On  the  Sabbath  days 
their  congregations  at  first  consisted  of  three  distinct 
classes — the  heathen  inquirers,  the  catechumens  and  the 
communicants.  After  the  sermon  had  been  preached, 
with  singing  and  prayer,  the  general  audience  of  the  un- 
initiated heathen  were  dismissed,  with  the  formula  Ite, 
missa  est ! — "  Go,  it  is  dismissed."  Then  the  catechumens, 
or  candidates  for  baptism,  the  first  degree  of  Christian 
profession,  were  instructed,  and  afterward  dismissed  with 
the  same  formula,  Ite,  missa  est !  Then  only  the  coni- 
municauts  of  the  second  or  highest  grade  of  Christian 
profession  remained,  and  they  together  celebrated  the 
most  sacred  rite  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  at  which  none  of 
the  uninitiated  were  allowed  to  remain  even  as  witnesses. 
Hence  the  sacraments  came  by  analogy  to  be  regarded  as 
the  Christian  mysteries,  or  innermost  secrets  unveiled 
only  to  the  initiated,  and  hence,  likewise,  the  Lord's 
Supper  itself  came  to  be  called  the  "  Mass,"  from  its 
being  introduced  by  two  repetitions,  and  followed  by  a 
third  repetition  of  the  dismission  formula,  Ite,  missa  est ! 
These  rites  have  more  generally  and  permanently  been 
called  "  sacraments,"  which  has  mistakenly  been  taken 
as  the  Latin  equivalent  of  the  Greek  mystery.  The 
sacramentum  was  anything  that  renders  sacred  or  binds, 
as  a  bail  or  a  soldier's  oath.  These  sacred  rites  seal  and 
publicly  consummate  a  Christian's  profession  of  faith 
and  allegiance.  They  bind  him  to  a  service,  like  a  citi- 
zen's oath  of  loyalty,  which  was  obligatory  upon  him 
antecedently  in  consequence  of  his  birth. 


BAPTISM.  363 

In  the  same  general  sense  these  special  rites  have  been 
called,  especially  among  Scotch  Presbyterians,  "sealing 
ordinances."  By  engagement  therein  the  professing 
Christian  openly  signifies  and  seals  his  profession  of  faith 
and  promise  of  service.  At  the  same  time,  by  the  ad- 
mission of  the  individual  to  the  privilege  of  participating 
in  them  the  Church,  through  its  officers,  signifies  and 
seals  its  recognition  of  the  covenanting  believer  as  an 
accepted  member  of  the  Church.  It  is  for  this  reason 
that  the  right  of  admitting  to  or  of  excluding  from  these 
"sealing  ordinances"  is  called  "the  power  of  the  keys," 
the  power  of  admission  or  of  exclusion,  "  of  binding  or 
of  loosing,"  of  which  our  Lord  speaks  in  his  address  to 
Peter  (Matt.  16  :  19).  And  for  this  reason  also  the  right 
of  administering  these  "  sealing  ordinances,"  which  are 
the  keys  that  open  or  shut  the  doors  of  the  visible 
Church,  has  always  been  rigidly  confined  to  the  ordained 
ministry  or  highest  class  of  church-officers,  thus  qualified 
to  act  in  this  matter — not  as  individuals,  but  as  repre- 
sentatives of  the  whole  body  of  believers  and  the  exec- 
utors according  to  law  of  their  corporate  will. 

II.  It  is  a  more  important  question  to  ask  what  are 
the  real  nature  and  design  of  these  sacraments  in  the 
economy  of  the  Christian  Church. 

Sacraments  are  symbols,  symbolical  actions,  wherein 
outward  physical  signs  represent  inward  invisible  grace. 
The  signs  consist  of  the  elements  and  of  the  sacramental 
actions  of  the  minister  and  of  the  recipient  in  relation  to 
these  elements.  They  are  symbolical  transactions,  in 
which  Christ  and  the  benefits  of  his  salvation  are  rep- 
resented, sealed  and  applied  to  believers.  The  grace 
symbolized  is  purchased  by  Christ,  is  conveyed  and  ap- 


364  THE  SACRAMENTS. 

plied  by  the  Holy  Ghost  aud  is  received  by  faith.  That 
grace,  therefore,  as  inward  aud  invisible,  belongs  to  the 
spiritual  Church  as  such,  whether  organized  iuto  visible 
societies  or  not.  But  the  sacraments,  wherein  this  in- 
ward invisible  grace  is  represented  by  outward  physical 
sigus,  belong  obviously  to  those  visible  societies  or  or- 
ganized churches  iuto  which  the  spiritual  children  of 
God  are  gathered.  They  can  have  no  other  sphere. 
They  are  signs  and  seals  to  men  iu  the  flesh  of  things 
which  relate  to  the  spiritual  world.  But  the  outward 
sign  has  no  pertinency  except  in  relation  to  the  condition 
of  men  in  the  flesh  and  sustaining  the  relations  of  mem- 
bers of  visible  organized  societies.  Their  need  and  use 
grow  out  of  the  two  facts — (1)  that  as  long  as  we  are  in 
the  flesh  the  most  profound  impressions  are  made  upon 
our  souls  through  our  bodily  senses ;  and  (2)  that  as  long 
as  we  are  associated  together  in  these  outward  visible  or- 
ganizations we  need  visible,  easily  recognizable  badges  of 
fellowship  and  seals  of  a  common  loyalty. 

These  symbols  are,  in  the  first  place,  natural.  Cir- 
cumcision and  the  washing  the  body  with  water  in  bap- 
tism are  obviously  natural  signs,  significant  of  the  need 
of  a  second  birth — a  new  birth,  which  will  be  like  life 
from  the  dead ;  a  life  distinguished  from  the  natural  life 
by  spirituality.  The  sacrifice  of  the  paschal  lamb,  and 
the  sprinkling  of  his  blood  on  the  doorposts,  and  the 
eating  of  his  flesh  at  a  sacrificial  feast  as  people  in  fel- 
lowship with  God,  and  the  breaking  and  eating  of  the 
bread  and  the  pouring  out  and  drinking  of  the  wine  in 
the  Lord's  Supper,  are  obviously  natural  signs,  signif- 
icant of  our  participation  in  all  the  sacrificial  benefits 
of  Christ's  redemption. 


BAPTISM.  365 

In  the  second  place,  being  selected  by  God  as  natural 
symbols  of  the  spiritual  graces '  represented,  they  are  or- 
dained by  him  to  be  so  regarded  and  treated  on  his  au- 
thority by  his  Church  for  ever.  Their  suggestive  and 
edifying  power  is  due  to  both  of  these  facts — the  natural 
likeness  and  the  divine  appointment. 

The  design  of  these  sacraments  is  obvious  from  their 
nature  and  uses;  and  is  moreover  clearly  taught  in  Script- 
ure. 

1st.  They  are  effective  objective  exhibitions  of  the  cen- 
tral truths  of  the  Gospels.  Like  pictures  they  impress- 
ively set  forth  to  the  eye  and  the  imagination  the  same 
great  truths  which  the  Word  of  God  read  or  preached 
sets  forth  to  the  ear.  Their  use  has  proved  the  wisdom 
of  their  appointment.  The  rationcde  lies  in  the  constitu- 
tion of  human  nature  as  embracing  rational  spirits  in- 
carnate in  animal  bodies. 

2d.  They  are  badges  of  church-membership,  and  hence 
at  the  same  time  of  our  relation  to  Christ  as  our  Teacher, 
Redeemer  and  King,  and  of  our  relation  to  one  another 
as  beneficiaries  of  the  same  redemption,  learners  in  the 
same  school,  brethren  in  the  same  family,  subjects  of  the 
same  kingdom  and  heirs  of  the  same  inheritance.  They 
discharge  the  same  offices  as  do  the  pass-signs  of  the 
secret  societies,  the  uniform  of  the  army,  the  standards 
of  the  battle,  the  flag  of  the  nation.  They  give  definite 
visibility  to  the  professing  organized  Church  of  Jesus 
Christ  on  earth,  at  once  in  the  eyes  of  its  own  members 
and  of  all  outsiders. 

3d.  They  were  also  designed  by  Christ  to  be  the  seals 
of  his  covenant  with  men.  Every  covenant  implies  two 
parties,   who   mutually   give   and   receive   pledges.     A 


366  THE  SACRAMENTS. 

seal  is  an  outward  visible  thing  or  action  attached  by 
appointment  of  government,  which  recognizes  and  con- 
summates a  contract,  rendering  the  contract  even  more 
sacred  by  the  governmental  recognition.  In  these  sac- 
raments Christ  seals  his  mediatorial  undertaking  for 
us,  and  pledges  by  an  objective  declaration,  in  every 
case  audible  and  visible,  our  salvation  on  the  condition 
of  our  really  and  spiritually  doing  what  we  in  appear- 
ance do  in  receiving  the  sacrament.  We  at  the  same 
time  swear  a  sacred  oath,  enacted  by  word  and  act,  to 
put  ourselves  absolutely  into  Christ's  hands  to  receive 
his  full  salvation  and  to  be  consecrated  to  his  service. 
4th.  They  were  also  ordained  by  Christ  to  be  means 
of  grace — not  the  only  means,  in  the  absence  of  which 
grace  is  not  given,  but  real,  divinely-appointed  means, 
the  use  of  which  is  obligatory  and  most  useful  to  all 
Christians,  the  appointed  instruments  in  the  hands  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  of  effecting  and  distributing  grace  to 
men  severally  as  he  wills.  "  The  outward  and  ordinary 
means,  whereby  Christ  communicates  to  his  Church  the 
benefits  of  his  mediation,  are  all  his  ordinances ;  especially 
the  Word,  sacraments,  and  prayer  "  (Larger  Cat.,  Ques. 
154).  Christ  uses  these  sacraments  not  only  to  represent 
and  seal,  but  also  actually  to  apply,  the  benefits  of  his 
redemption  to  believers  (Shorter  Cat.,  Ques.  92).  This 
efficiency  as  means  of  grace  does  not,  of  course,  inhere  in 
the  sacramental  elements  or  actions  themselves,  nor  in  the 
merit  or  intention  of  the  administrator,  but  always  in  the 
present  gracious  volition  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  whose  in- 
struments they  are,  just  as  the  efficiency  of  the  axe  or 
hammer  or  sword  is  due  to  the  will  and  power  of  the 
man   who  wields    it.      The    axe   cuts   down    the   tree 


BAPTISM.  367 

because  it  is  adapted  to  cut  wood,  and  because  it  is 
energetically  and  skillfully  wielded  by  a  strong  man. 
The  sacrament  acts  as  means  of  conveying  grace  because 
its  signs  and  actions  are  adapted  to  affect  the  mind  and 
the  heart  and  the  will  of  men  in  the  right  way  at  the 
same  time,  and  because  the  Holy  Ghost,  who  works  in 
us  to  will  and  to  do  of  his  good  pleasure,  uses  it  as  he 
wills  and  to  effect  his  own  purpose. 

III.  It  is  well  known  that  the  Romanists  hold  that 
there  are  under  the  new  law  or  covenant  seven  sacra- 
ments— viz.  baptism,  confirmation,  the  Lord's  Supper, 
penance,  marriage,  orders,  extreme  unction,  although 
they  have  always  acknowledged  that  baptism  and  the 
Lord's  Supper  constitute  a  pre-eminently  sacred  class 
by  themselves — as  Thomas  Aquinas  calls  them,  potissima 
sacramenta.  All  these,  with  the  exception  of  penance 
and  extreme  unction,  are  admitted  by  Protestants  to  be 
important  divine  ordinances.  The  only  question  between 
Protestants  and  Catholics  at  this  point  relates  to  the 
proper  extension  of  the  word  "  sacrament,"  which  is 
not  found  in  the  Bible.  The  true  way  of  putting  the 
question  on  the  Protestant  side  is  not  to  raise  a  contro- 
versy as  to  the  meaning  of  a  non-biblical  word,  but  to 
ask,  "Are  there  any  other  divine  ordinances  of  the  same 
class,  possessing  the  same  qualities  and  sustaining  the 
same  relations  as  baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper?"  We 
Protestants  answer,  emphatically,  "  No  !" 

That  these  special  ordinances  were  designed  to  be, per- 
petual is  as  plain  as  language  and  reason  can  make  it. 
In  the  first  place,  this  is  antecedently  probable,  because 
the  reason  for  their  original  institution  still  continues. 
In  the  second  place,  this  continued  use  in  the  case  of 


368  THE  SACRAMENTS. 

each  sacrament  is  specifically  commanded  :  "  Go  ye  into 
all  the  world,  discipling  all  nations,  baptizing  them," 
etc.,  and,  "Lo,  I  am  with  you  alway,  even  unto  the  end 
of  this  world-age"  (Matt.  28  :  19,  20;  Mark  16  :  15); 
"  Do  this  in  remembrance  of  me ;"  and  the  inspired  com- 
ment of  the  apostle,  "  For  as  often  as  ye  eat  this  bread, 
and  drink  this  cup,  ye  do  shew  the  Lord's  death  till  he 
come"  (1  Cor.  11:26).  These  are,  therefore,  to  con- 
tinue until  the  second  coming  of  Christ.  In  the  third 
place,  the  apostles  practiced  the  use  of  both  sacraments 
as  long  as  they  lived.  And  in  the  fourth  place,  the  en- 
tire Christian  Church,  under  the  guidance  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  has  continued  their  observance  in  unbroken  con- 
tinuity unto  the  present  time. 

IV.  Baptism. 

All  the  world  knows  the  vast  volume  of  controversy 
and  of  controversial  literature  which  has  been  generated 
in  the  Church  around  this  immense  subject.  We  have, 
on  the  one  hand,  the  great  body  of  the  historical  Chris- 
tian churches,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  the  Protestants  of 
Protestants,  our  Baptist  brethren.  In  this  point  of  view 
the  advantage  appears  to  be  on  our  side.  But  this  ad- 
vantage is  very  greatly  abated  when  we  come  to  estimate 
the  average  quality  of  the  two  great  contestant  bodies  in 
mass,  and  recognize  the  fact  that  these  Baptist  brethren 
stand  among  those  occupying  the  very  foremost  rank  in 
intelligence,  learning,  piety,  effective  usefulness  and  uni- 
versal and  strict  fidelity  to  the  Word  of  God.  The 
questions  in  debate  relate  to  fundamental  points :  1st. 
What  is  baptism  ?  What,  precisely,  are  we  commanded 
to  do  when  Ave  are  commanded  to  baptize?  2d.  What 
classes  of  persons  are  we  to  baptize?     These  Lectures 


BAPTISM.  369 

have  nothing  to  do  with  controversy.  We  propose, 
therefore,  in  the  most  friendly  spirit  toward  all  those 
who  differ  from  us,  to  state  with  perfect  simplicity  our 
own  belief  as  to  what  is  the  truth  on  both  these  subjects. 
[I.]  We  believe  that  the  command  to  baptize  is  pre- 
cisely and  only  a  command  to  wash  with  water  as  a  sym- 
bol of  spiritual  regeneration  and  cleansing  into  the  name 
of  the  Father  and  of  the  Son  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
The  essential  parts  of  the  external  sacrament  are,  conse- 
quently, (1)  the  formula  ;  (2)  the  element ;  (3)  the  action  ; 
(4)  the  sense  in  which  the  symbol  is  interpreted. 

(1)  It  is  essential  to  the  validity  of  this  ordinance  that 
it  should  be  administered  "  in  the  name  of  the  Father 
and  of  the  Son  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost."  This  is  cer- 
tain— (a)  because  of  the  words  of  the  great  commission 
in  Matt.  28  :  19 ;  (b)  from  the  essential  significancy  of 
the  rite.  Besides  being  a  symbol  of  spiritual  purification, 
it  is  essentially,  as  the  rite  of  initiation  into  the  Christian 
Church,  a  covenanting  ordinance,  whereby  the  recipient 
recognizes  and  pledges  his  allegiance  to  God  in  that  char- 
acter and  in  those  relations  in  which  he  has  revealed 
himself  to  us  in  the  plan  of  salvation.  The  formula  of 
baptism,  therefore,  is  a  summary  of  the  whole  Scripture 
doctrine  of  the  Triune  Jehovah  as  he  has  chosen  to  re- 
veal himself  to  us  in  all  those  relations  which  the  several 
Persons  of  the  Trinity  graciously  sustain  to  the  believer 
in  the  scheme  of  redemption. 

(2)  The  element,  as  is  universally  acknowledged,  is 
water.  Water  is  to  the  physical  system  of  this  earth 
and  to  the  life  upon  its  surface  what  the  blood  is  in  the 
animal  organism.  When  water  is  withheld  the  whole 
earth  becomes  first  clouded  with  dust,  and  then  parched 

24 


370  THE  SACRAMENTS. 

to  death,  and  finally  becomes  a  barren  desert.  "When 
the  water  is  copiously  restored  the  face  of  nature  is  puri- 
fied, and  the  desert  is  transformed  into  the  garden  of  the 
Lord.  Water  as  the  universal  bearer  of  life  and  solvent 
is  the  natural  type  of  spiritual  regeneration  and  sanctifi- 
cation.  If  water,  therefore,  is  absent,  there  is  no  bap- 
tism, because  the  command  to  baptize  is  the  command  to 
wash  with  water. 

(3)  The  element  and  the  action  by  which  it  is  used 
and  applied  constitute  what  is  technically  called  the 
"matter  of  baptism" — i.  e.  the  thing  done  by  the  person 
who  performs  the  rite.  This  we  believe  to  be  simply  a 
washing  with  water.  The  whole  rite  is  a  symbol  of 
spiritual  cleansing.  The  thing  to  be  done,  therefore,  is 
to  wash.  The  manner  of  doing  it  is,  therefore,  neces- 
sarily accidental  and  outside  of  the  command.  This  we 
fully  believe — 

(a)  Because  the  Greek  words  used  to  express  the  com- 
mand ftaTzri^co  and  fidx-co,  although  their  root-meaning 
is  to  immerse  in  any  liquid,  have  come  to  mean  generally 
the  producing  of  the  effect  for  the  sake  of  which  the  liquid 
is  applied ;  e.  g.  to  wash  or  to  tinge  or  to  dye,  no  matter 
in  what  manner  the  liquid  is  applied  to  the  subject  ope- 
rated upon.  The  word  v'tTtrco,  to  wash,  and  the  word 
j3a7zzi£co}  are  used  interchangeably  in  the  New  Testament 
(Matt.  15  :  2;  Mark  7  :  1-15;  Luke  11  :  37-39.  See 
also  2  Kings  5:13,  14  and  Tit,  3  :  5). 

(6)  These  words  are  unquestionably  used  in  the  New 
Testament  in  a  great  variety  of  connections  in  which  they 
cannot  emphasize  any  one  mode  of  applying  the  water, 
as  the  "  washing  of  cups,  and  pots,  and  brazen  vessels, 
and  of  tables  "  (Mark  7  :  4),  and  the  baptizing  of  Moses 


BAPTISM.  371 

"in  the  cloud  and  in  the  sea"  (1  Cor.  10:  1,  2).  The 
"  divers  washings "  of  the  first  tabernacle  (Heb.  9  :  10) 
we  know  to  have  been  effected  chiefly  by  sprinkling  and 
pouring  (Heb.  9  :  13-21 ;  Ex.  30 :  17-21). 

(c)  In  all  probability,  the  original  manner  of  applying 
the  water  in  Christian  baptism  was  by  pouring  the  water 
out  of  the  hollow  of  the  hand  or  out  of  a  shell  or  small 
vessel,  without  any  emphasis  or  special  signification 
attached  to  the  manner  in  which  the  water  was  applied. 
This  we  regard  as  probable,  because  the  prevailing 
modes  of  purification  among  the  Jews  were  the  pour- 
ing of  water  and  the  sprinkling  of  blood  or  ashes  (Lev. 
8  :  30 ;  14  :  7,  51 ;  Heb.  9  :  13-22).  The  personal  ablu- 
tions of  the  priests  were  performed  at  the  brazen  laver, 
from  which  the  water  poured  forth  through  spouts  or 
cocks  (1  Kings  7  :  38,  39  ;  2  Chron.  4  :  6).  Pouring 
water  out  of  a  vessel  upon  the  hands,  feet  or  head  of  the 
person  has  been  the  method  of  applying  water  for  pur- 
poses of  purification  from  the  earliest  age  to  the  present 
time  in  all  the  Oriental  world  from  the  Ganges  to  the 
Bosphorus.  The  earliest  rude  remains  of  Christian  art 
in  the  Catacombs  represent  John  as  baptizing  on  the 
side  of  a  stream  of  water  by  affusion. 

(d)  The  outstanding  essential  fact,  about  which  there 
can  be  no  controversy,  is  that  baptism  with  water  is  a 
symbol  of  baptism  by  the  Holy  Ghost.  The  one  signi- 
fies what  the  other  effects— i.  e.  the  cleansing  the  soul 
from  the  guilt  and  pollution  of  sin  (John  3:5;  Tit. 
3:5;  Acts  2:  38;  22:16;  1  Cor.  6:11;  Eph.  5  :  26). 
It  is  the  washing  of  the  body  corresponding  to  the 
"washing  of  regeneration  and  renewing  of  the  Holy 
Ghost."     John  and  the  apostles  baptized,  and  the  mod- 


372  THE  SACRAMENTS. 

era  minister  baptizes,  with  water,  but  Christ  baptizes  us 
with  the  Holy  Ghost  (Luke  3:16;  Acts  1:5;  11:16; 
22:16;  1  Cor.  12:13).  The  one  is  the  shadow,  the 
other  is  the  substance. 

(e)  Everywhere  in  the  New  Testament  the  connection 
in  which  the  baptism  with  water  is  spoken  of  indicates 
the  fact  that  it  symbolizes  the  baptism  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  and  implies  spiritual  purification.  In  John 
3  :  22-30  the  question  debated  between  some  of  John's 
disciples  and  the  Jews  as  to  baptism  is  expressly  defined 
to  be  a  question  concerning  purification.  Men  were  ex- 
horted to  be  baptized  in  order  to  wash  away  their  sins. 
It  is  declared  that  men  must  be  born  of  water  and  of  the 
Spirit,  and  that  baptism  as  well  as  faith  is  an  essential 
condition  of  salvation.  The  effect  of  baptism  is  declared 
to  be  purification  (2  Kings  5  :  13,  14;  Judith  12  :  7 ; 
Luke  11  :  37-39). 

(/)  The  metaphorical  representation  given  in  Script- 
ure of  the  Spirit's  influence,  of  which  baptism  is  the 
outward  sign,  never  implies  that  the  mode  of  the  appli- 
cation is  essential.  The  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost  was  the 
grace  signified  (Acts  2 :  1-4,  32,  33  ;  10  :  44-48  ;  11  :  15, 
16).  The  fire  which  did  not  immerse  them,  but  appeared 
as  cloven  tongues  and  "  sat  upon  each  one  of  them,"  was 
the  symbol  of  that  grace.  Jesus  was  himself  the  baptizer, 
who  uow  fulfilled  the  prediction  of  John  the  Baptist  that 
lie  should  baptize  with  the  Holy  Ghost  and  with  fire. 
The  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost  is  set  forth  alike  in  the  Old 
and  New  Testaments  in  such  terms  as  "came  from 
heaven,"  "poured  out,"  "shed  forth,"  "fell  on  them" 
(Isa.  44  :  3  ;  52  :  15 ;  Ezek.  36  :  25-27  ;  Joel  2  :  28,  29). 

(g)  The  metaphorical  illustrations  of  the  effects  and 


BAPTISM.  373 

benefits  of  baptism  given  in  the  New  Testament  do  not  lay 
any  emphasis  upon  nor  suggest  any  importance  as  attach- 
ing to  the  mode  of  applying  the  water  in  baptism.  We  are 
said  "  to  be  born  of  water  and  of  the  Spirit ;"  to  "  have 
put  on  Christ  "asa  garment  in  baptism  ;  to  be  "  planted 
together  or  generated  together  ;"  "to  be  buried  with  him 
by  baptism  into  death  "  (John  3:5;  Gal.  3  :  27  ;  Rom. 
6  :  3-5).  These,  none  of  them,  represent  baptism  itself, 
but  all  alike  refer  to  the  spiritual  effects  of  that  grace 
which  water  baptism  symbolizes.  In  baptism  we  sym- 
bolically and  professedly  receive  the  Holy  Ghost.  The 
indwelling  of  the  Holy  Ghost  unites  us  vitally  to  Christ. 
Union  with  Christ  involves  our  being  "generated  or 
grafted  together  with  him  into  one  vital  organism;" 
our  putting  on  Christ  as  our  righteousness;  our  being 
united  with  him  federally,  so  that  his  death  is  our 
death  and  his  rising  to  newness  of  life  ours  also;  as 
he  is  a  Priest,  we  are  priests ;  as  he  is  a  Prophet,  we 
are  prophets ;  as  he  is  a  King,  Ave  are  kings.  All  this 
and  much  more  is  true,  but  none  of  it  even  suggests  the 
manner  in  which  the  water  shall  be  applied  in  baptism. 

Qi)  The  Christian  Church  as  a  great  historic  body  has 
always  felt  itself  free  in  regard  to  this  question.  In  the 
Eastern  churches  pouring  has  prevailed  from  immemorial 
times.  The  Greek  Church  has  always  insisted  on  im- 
mersion. The  Roman  Catholic  and  Protestant  historic 
churches  admit  both  forms.  During  all  the  more  modern 
freer  and  more  evangelical  ages  the  tendency  toward  bap- 
tizing by  sprinkling  has  increased  and  become  more 
general.  The  general  body  of  Christians  have  always 
felt  that  as  the  mode  of  the  application  of  the  water  in 
baptism  was  not  of  the  essence  of  the  commandment, 


374  TEE  SACRAMENTS. 

they  were  free  to  do  in  the  matter  as  convenience  01 
local  custom  suggested. 

(?')  It  is  in  the  highest  degree  incongruous  with  the 
genius  of  the  Christian  religion  and  with  the  general 
analogy  of  its  institutions  that  the  mere  manner  of  ap- 
plying water  as  symbolical  of  purification  should  be  con- 
sidered of  any  importance.  This  religion  is  pre-emi- 
nently spiritual  and  reasonable,  and  not  external  nor  for- 
mal. It  is  designed  for  all  men  of  all  climates,  ages  and 
conditions,  and  to  be  applied  to  individuals  and  commu- 
nities under  all  conceivable  circumstances.  The  exter- 
nal mode  of  performing  a  rite  is  insisted  upon  in  no 
other  instance.  Christ  and  his  apostles  have  left  no  pre- 
scriptions as  to  the  form  of  church  government  nor  as 
to  the  manner  of  induction  into  church  offices.  No 
hints  even  as  to  a  liturgy  or  form  of  prayer  or  order  of 
general  service  of  the  sanctuary  are  given  in  their  writ- 
ings. Neither  posture  in  prayer  nor  form  of  psalmody 
is  prescribed.  The  questions  as  to  the  use  of  instru- 
mental music,  robes  and  written  or  extemporaneous  pray- 
ers are  left  absolutely  indeterminate.  In  the  case  of  the 
sister  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper  the  manner  of 
celebrating  it,  by  absolutely  universal  consent  of  all 
Christians,  has  been  left  to  the  free  selection  of  each 
ecclesiastical  community,  some  receiving  it  lying  on 
couches,  as  the  apostles  did  who  received  it  from  the 
hands  of  Christ,  and  some  kneeling,  and  some  standing, 
and  some  sitting ;  some  using  unleavened  bread  after  the 
original  example,  and  others  insisting  upon  the  bread  of 
every-day  life. 

(j)  The  case  standing  thus,  as  we  think,  as  above 
stated,  it  is  evident  that  the  only  point  in  connection 


BAPTISM.  375 

with  the  mode  of  baptism  is  to  insist  upon  it  that  the 
mode  is  an  accident  of  no  importance  at  all.  The  only 
serious  mistake  that  possibly  can  be  made  in  the  premises 
is  that  of  insisting  upon  some  one  of  the  many  possible 
modes  as  absolutely  essential  to  the  integrity  of  the  rite. 
The  essence  of  the  thing  is  to  wash  with  water  as  a  symbol 
"  of  the  washing  of  regeneration  and  renewing  of  the 
Holy  Ghost."  Everything  other  than  this  or  more  than 
this  necessarily  confuses  the  doctrine  and  obscures  the 
impression  of  the  truth.  The  simple  command  stands  and 
embraces  all  Christians  :  "  Go,  wash  with  water  into  the 
name  of  the  Father  and  of  the  Son  and  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  j"  and  "He  who  baptizes  with  the  Holy  Ghost  and 
with  fire  will  be  with  you  alway,  even  to  the  end  of  the 
world." 

[II.]   Who  are  to  be  Baptized  f 

There  are  two  principles  applying  to  the  solution  of 
this  problem  which  appear  to  us  to  be  very  clear  and  un- 
questionable. 

The  first  of  these  principles  is  that  baptism  is  a  sacra- 
mental action  representing  an  inward  invisible  grace. 
Consequently,  the  outward  action  ought  never  conscious- 
ly and  intentionally  to  be  applied  where  the  inward  in- 
visible grace  is  absent.  There  could  be  no  farce  more 
profane,  no  empty  show  more  ghastly,  than  that  of  seal- 
ing the  form  of  a  covenant  where  there  was  no  real 
promise,  of  applying  an  outward  symbol  of  spiritual  life 
and  grace  where  all  spiritual  life  and  grace  are  absent. 
Such  mockery  would  transform  the  sacred  pledges  of 
God's  truth  into  a  lie. 

The  second  principle,  which  we  affirm  to  be  no  less 
obvious  and  certain,  is,  that  the  baptism  with  water  is 


376  THE  SACRAMENTS. 

itself  an  outward  visible  sign,  to  be  applied  by  human 
agents  who  are  incapable  of  reading  the  hearts  of  men, 
and  who  have  no  power  of  conveying  and  no  authority 
of  absolutely  pledging  the  spiritual  gifts  which  God  re- 
tains in  his  own  hand.  It  follows,  consequently,  that  in 
practice,  while  the  sign  should  never  inteutionally  be 
applied  where  the  grace  is  absent,  there  canuot,  however, 
be  any  infallible  couuectlou  between  the  sign  and  the 
grace.  God  alone  reads  the  hearts  of  men  and  dispenses 
the  invisible  grace,  and  men  who  cannot  read  the  heart 
alone  dispense  the  outward  visible  signs  of  the  sacra- 
ment. It  follows  that  these  human  ministers  of  God's 
will  must  administer  these  rites  upon  certain  presump- 
tions— i.  e.  they  must  follow  certain  divinely-appointed 
signs  or  indications  which  raise  in  each  case  the  pre- 
sumption that  the  parties  concerned  are  either  now  or 
to  be  hereafter  the  parties  to  whom  the  invisible  spiritual 
grace  signified  belongs.  It  is  perfectly  plain  that  every 
human  society,  whether  social,  political  or  religious,  must 
necessarily  be  organized  and  administered  on  the  same 
principles.  Men  can  judge  character  only  by  external 
indications,  and  these  external  indications  must  be  as- 
sumed to  be  presumptive  evidence  of  the  reality  and 
genuineness  of  the  character  they  indicate.  And  the  in- 
dividual officers  of  the  society,  whatever  it  may  be,  can- 
not be  allowed  to  follow  unrestrictedly  the  indications  of 
their  own  variable  judgments  in  each  particular  case. 
The  society  itself  must,  through  its  supreme  authority, 
establish  general  rules  and  tests  of  presumptive  evidence 
upon  which  its  officers  must  act  alike  in  the  admission 
and  in  the  exclusion  of  members. 

1st.  In  the  case  of  adults,  or  persons  arrived  at  the 


BAPTISM.  377 

condition  of  independent  responsible  agency,  the  pre- 
sumptive ground  of  fitness  for  admission  to  the  sealing 
ordinances  of  the  Church  is  a  competent  knowledge  of 
the  plan  of  salvation,  a  credible  profession  of  personal 
faith,  and  a  walk  and  conversation  consistent  therewith. 
The  amount  of  knowledge  requisite  must  vary  with  the 
general  intelligence  of  the  subject.  But  it  is  evident 
that  no  person  can  be  a  Christian  by  profession  who  is 
absolutely  ignorant  of  his  own  guilt  and  pollution  and 
of  Christ's  meritorious  work  in  our  behalf.  And,  on  the 
other  hand,  it  is  no  less  evident  that  multitudes  of  Christ's 
children  are  saved  who  have  attained  only  to  the  vaguest 
and  most  elementary  knowledge  of  the  essentials  of  the 
gospel.  A  "  credible  profession  "  does  not  mean  a  pro- 
fession of  faith  which  compels  credence  or  which  con- 
vinces the  observer  that  it  is  genuine,  but  it  is  simply 
the  opposite  of  the  incredible ;  it  is  a  confession  that  can 
be  believed.  Neither  ministers  of  the  gospel  nor  elders 
are  able  to  read  the  secrets  of  the  human  heart  or  to 
judge  of  character.  Therefore,  the  great  Head  of  the 
Church  has  not  laid  upon  us  the  responsibility.  The  re- 
sponsibility of  professing  Christ  rests  upon  the  individ- 
ual professor.  Every  man  who  has  the  competent  knowl- 
edge, and  who  makes  a  profession  not  incredible,  and 
whose  life  is  in  conformity  therewith,  has  a  presumptive 
right  to  come  to  the  sacraments.  He  does  not  need  to 
prove  his  way  in.  If  the  Session  or  pastor  exclude  him, 
they  or  he  must  show  sufficient  positive  evidence  of  his  not 
being  a  Christian  to  keep  him  out.  This  plain  principle  is 
one  of  great  importance,  the  violation  of  which  has  brought 
great  evil  upon  the  Church.  As  the  minister  and  church 
Session  have  no  power  of  reading  the  heart  of  the  ap- 


378  THE  SACRAMENTS. 

plicant,  so  it  must  be  a  great  evil  if  they  officially  form 
and  express  any  judgment  iu  the  case.  If  they  do  pre- 
tend to  listen  to  and  judge  of  the  value  of  the  experience 
recited,  they  profanely  assume  to  possess  the  prerogatives 
which  belong  to  God  alone,  and  they  lead  deluded  souls 
to  put  an  unwarrantable  confidence  in  the  worthless  in- 
dorsement of  the  church  authorities.  It  is  by  reason  of 
this  that  so  many  are  asleep  in  Zion.  Each  man  ought 
to  be  thrown  back  upon  his  own  unshared  responsibility, 
and  made  "  to  examine  himself,  that  so  he  may  eat  of 
this  bread." 

On  the  other  hand,  it  is  the  great  duty  of  those  church- 
officers  to  whom  Christ  has  committed  the  keys  of  the 
visible  kingdom  of  heaven  on  earth  to  proclaim  the 
truths  of  the  gospel,  to  impress  the  resulting  duties  upon 
the  consciences  of  men,  and  to  set  forth  the  high  condi- 
tions of  Christian  communion  which  God  exacts.  The 
Romanists  baptize  all  children  indiscriminately.  All 
adults  who  render  an  outward  adherence  to  the  Church 
are  baptized.  The  State-Church  systems  of  Protestant 
Europe  recognize  every  reputable  citizen  of  the  State  as 
a  legitimate  member  of  the  Church.  The  true  doctrine 
is,  that  no  man,  whatever  his  external  relations  may  be, 
has  a  right  to  come  to  the  holy  sacraments  unless  he  is 
duly  qualified,  and  he  cannot  be  duly  qualified  unless  he 
is  a  living  member  of  Christ's  mystical  body,  a  temple 
of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Unless  he  possesses  this  character, 
his  approach  to  the  sacraments  is  in  vain  and  a  sin.  But 
of  this  fact  the  man  himself  is  always  and  only  the  one 
responsible  judge.  The  officers  and  members  of  the 
church  have  no  right  to  go  behind  his  not  incredible 
profession  on  the   presumptive  evidence  of  which  the 


BAPTISM.  379 

Master  requires  all  others  to  receive  him  and  to  treat 
him  in  all  things  as  a  Christian  brother. 

2d.  The  children  of  all  such  persons  as  on  the  ground 
of  their  own  credible  profession  of  faith  are  received  as 
members  of  the  visible  Church  are  to  be  baptized  as 
members  of  the  visible  Church,  because,  presumptively, 
heirs  of  the  blessings  of  the  covenant  of  grace.  The 
divinely-appointed  and  guaranteed  presumption  is,  if 
the  parents,  then  the  children.  This  is  not  an  in- 
variable law  binding  God,  but  it  is  a  prevailingly 
probable  law,  basing  the  authorized  and  rational  recog- 
nition and  treatment  of  such  children  by  the  Church  as 
heirs  of  the  promises.  The  reasons  for  our  thinking  so 
must  be  condensed  into  the  fewest  words : 

(1)  This  presumption  is  rendered  exceedingly  probable 
by  the  fundamental  constitution  of  humanity  as  a  self- 
propagative  race.  A  moral  government  pure  and  simple 
presupposes  only  individuals,  and  addresses  itself  to  the 
control  of  individuals  through  their  reasons,  consciences 
and  wills.  But  the  fact  which  differentiates  the  human 
subjects  of  the  divine  government  from  an  ideal  realm 
— as  that  of  the  angels,  for  instance — is  that  we  are  a 
race  in  which  the  nature,  character  and  status  of  the 
parent  determine  those  of  the  child  by  a  universal  and 
inevitable  hereditary  law.  Thus,  the  apostasy  of  Adam 
gave  an  entirely  new  direction  to  the  history  of  his  en- 
tire race,  and  thus  the  character  and  destiny  of  families, 
races  and  nations  have  been  always  predetermined  by  the 
deeds  and  experiences  of  their  ancestors.  The  law  of 
heredity  is  the  fundamental  law  of  animal  nature,  in- 
cluding man ;  and  since  the  God  of  nature  is  identical 
with  the  God  of  grace,  it  was  to  be  anticipated  that  his 


380  THE  SACRAMENTS. 

remedial  scheme  of  redemption  should  conserve  and  ope- 
rate through  all  the  laws  of  nature,  while  it  antagonizes 
only  that  false  nature  which  is  sin.  Hugh  Miller,  the 
Christian  geologist,  says  :  "  Whatever  we  may  think  of 
the  scriptural  doctrine  on  this  special  head,  it  is  a  fact 
broad  and  palpable  in  the  economy  of  nature  that  pa- 
rents do  occupy  a  federal  position,  and  that  the  lapsed 
progenitors,  when  cut  off  from  civilization  and  all  ex- 
ternal civilization  of  a  missionary  character,  become  the 
founders  of  a  lapsed  race.  The  iniquities  of  the  parents 
are  visited  upon  the  children.  In  all  such  instances  it  is 
man  left  to  the  freedom  of  his  own  will  that  is  the  de- 
teriorated of  man.  The  doctrine  of  the  Fall  in  its  purely 
theologic  aspect  is  a  doctrine  which  must  be  apprehended 
by  faith ;  but  it  is  at  least  something  to  find  that  the 
analogies  of  science,  instead  of  running  counter  to  it, 
run  in  exactly  the  same  line.  It  is  one  of  the  inevitable 
consequences  of  that  nature  of  man  which  the  Creator 
'bound  fast  in  fate  '  while  he  left  free  his  will,  that  the 
free  will  of  the  parent  should  become  the  destiny  of  the 
child." 

(2)  This  presumption  is  borne  out  by  the  analogies  of 
the  entire  history  of  God's  providential  revelations  of 
the  scheme  of  redemption  recorded  in  Scripture.  If  the 
parents  by  an  inevitable  law  bore  their  children  away 
from  God  in  their  apostasy,  it  is  surely  to  be  expected 
that  they  shall  bring  back  their  children  with  them  God- 
ward  in  their  regeneration.  The  sin  of  the  parents  im- 
mediately involved  the  condemnation  and  guilt  of  the 
family.  So  when  God  began  graciously  to  open  to  men 
a  way  of  escape,  and  set  up  his  kingdom  in  the  world, 
the  family  was  made  the  first  form  of  the  Church.     In 


BAPTISM.  381 

the  entire  patriarchal  age  every  family,  the  heads  of 
which  professed  the  true  religion,  was  a  visible  Church. 
The  father  was  the  prophet,  priest  and  king.  By  him 
the  morning  and  evening  sacrifices  were  offered.  Wher- 
ever Abraham  and  the  other  patriarchs  went  they  erected 
the  altar  and  called  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord.  The 
whole  family,  including  especially  the  little  children,  con- 
stituted the  Church,  and  were  trained  in  the  knowledge 
and  service  of  God.  In  all  his  covenants  God  explicitly 
included  the  children  with  their  parents.  The  faith  of 
the  parents  turned  the  favor  of  God  upon  their  children, 
and  the  promises  of  the  parents  bound  their  children 
under  inalienable  obligations.  The  curse  denounced 
upon  Adam  and  Eve  has  been  in  all  its  specifications 
inflicted  on  their  seed  throughout  all  generations.  So 
when  covenanting  with  Noah,  the  second  father  of  the 
race,  God  said,  "  I  will  establish  my  covenant  between 
me  and  thee,  and  thy  seed  after  thee  in  all  their  genera- 
tions ;"  and  when  making  his  national  covenant  with  the 
Israelites,  Jehovah  declared  this  principle :  "  For  I, 
Jehovah  thy  God,  am  a  jealous  God,  visiting  the  in- 
iquities of  the  fathers  upon  the  children  unto  the  third 
and  fourth  generation  of  them  that  hate  me ;  and  show- 
ing mercy  unto  thousands  of  them  that  love  me  and 
keep  my  commandments."  And  in  the  first  great  ser- 
mon of  the  New  Dispensation,  on  the  day  of  Pentecost, 
Peter,  when  preaching  to  the  people  that  they  must  re- 
pent and  be  baptized,  gives  this  remarkable  reason  for  it : 
"For  the  promise  [the  gospel  covenant]  is  unto  you,  and 
to  your  children,  and  to  all  that  are  afar  off,  even  as 
many  as  the  Lord  our  God  shall  call." 

(3)  Baptism  under  the  New  Dispensation  of  the  cove- 


382  THE  SACRAMENTS. 

nant  of  grace  in  all  respects  takes  the  place  of  circum- 
cision under  the  Old.  It  is  "the  circumcision  of  Christ" 
(Col.  2  :  11,  12).  The  one  was  a  mark  that  was  a  sign 
of  the  necessity  of  regeneration  and  a  pledge  of  its  gift. 
In  the  other,  water,  the  universal  element  of  cosmical 
life  and  the  universal  instrument  of  cleansing,  is  applied 
to  the  person  with  the  same  significance  and  design. 
Each  in  its  own  age  was  the  authoritatively  appoint- 
ed door  of  entrance  into  the  fold  of  salvation  and  the 
badge  of  citizenship  in  the  kingdom  of  God.  Viewed 
as  a  mere  outward  rite,  neither  circumcision  nor  baptism 
nor  their  absence  avail  anything,  but  the  new  creature, 
which  both  alike  signify.  Baptism  takes  the  place 
of  circumcision,  the  seal  of  the  covenant  which  God 
made  with  Abraham  :  "  For  as  many  of  you  as  have 
been  baptized  into  Christ  have  put  on  Christ.  And 
if  ye  be  Christ's,  then  are  ye  Abraham's  seed,  and 
heirs  according  to  the  promise  "  (Gal.  3  :  27,  29).  Bap- 
tism represents  the  washing  away  of  sin ;  circumcision 
did  precisely  the  same.  For  God  said,  "  I  will  circum- 
cise thy  heart  and  the  heart  of  thy  seed  to  love  the 
Lord  with  all  thy  soul,"  etc.  Circumcision,  like  bap- 
tism, represents  an  inward  spiritual  grace:  "For  he  is 
not  a  Jew,  which  is  one  outwardly ;  neither  is  that  cir- 
cumcision, which  is  outward  in  the  flesh;  but  he  is  a 
Jew,  which  is  one  inwardly;  and  circumcision  is  that 
of  the  heart,  in  the  spirit,  and  not  in  the  letter ;  whose 
praise  is  not  of  men,  but  of  God "  (Rom.  2  :  28,  29). 
Circumcision  as  well  as  baptism  unites  us  to  Christ. 
For  Paul  says  (Col.  2  :  10,  11) :  "In  whom"  (i.  e.  Christ, 
Head  of  all  principality  and  power)  "  ye  are  circumcised 
with  the  circumcision  made  without  hands,  in  putting 


BAPTISM.  383 

off  the  body  of  the  sins  of  the  flesh  by  the  circumcision 
of  Christ."  "Water  baptism  is  the  precise  equivalent  of 
"  the  circumcision  of  the  flesh ;"  and  the  baptism  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  is  the  precise  equivalent  of  "the  circum- 
cision of  the  heart."  The  apostle  Paul  says  everything 
of  circumcision  that  an  evangelical  pastor  would  now 
say  of  baptism.  The  condition  of  the  circumcision  of 
an  adult  under  the  Mosaic  law  was  precisely  the  same 
credible  profession  of  faith  which  is  now  demanded  as  a 
precondition  of  adult  baptism.  But  all  the  children  of 
believers  were  circumcised;  therefore  there  is  every 
presumption  that  the  children  of  believers  should  be 
baptized. 

(4)  The  Church  under  the  Old  Dispensation  is  pre- 
cisely the  same  Church  with  the  Christian  Church  under 
the  New.  They  bore  the  same  name :  the  "Kahal  Je- 
hovah "  and  the  exxXrjaia  xupiou  alike  mean  the  Church 
of  the  Lord.  Thus,  Stephen  called  the  "  congregation 
of  the  Lord  "  before  Sinai  "  the  Church  in  the  wilder- 
ness." (Compare  Acts  7  :  38  with  Ex.  32.)  Their  foun- 
dation in  the  Person  and  work  of  Christ  was  the  same. 
The  conditions  of  adult  membership  in  each  were  the 
same  profession  of  faith  and  promise  of  obedience. 
Every  true  Israelite  was  a  true  believer  (Gal.  3 :  7). 
All  Israelites  were  at  least  credible  professors  of  the 
true  religion.  The  sacraments  of  this  Church  under  its 
successive  dispensations  were  of  the  same  significance  and 
binding  force.  Baptism  is  the  "  circumcision  of  Christ " 
(Col.  2  :  11,  12).  The  Passover,  like  the  Last  Supper, 
represented  the  sacrifice  of  Christ  (1  Cor.  5  :  7).  The 
Christian  converts  from  Judaism  were  not  gathered  into 
a  new  Church,  but  were  daily  added  to  the  already  ex- 


384  THE  SACRAMENTS. 

isting  Church.  The  Gentile  branches  did  not  constitute 
a  new  olive  tree,  but  were  grafted  into  the  old  Israelitish 
olive  tree  (Rom.  11  :  17-24).  The  apostles,  who  entered 
the  Church  by  circumcision,  and  who  acknowledged 
Christ  as  the  Messiah  before  the  excision  of  the  Jews 
in  mass  because  of  unbelief,  were  never  baptized,  while 
Paul  and  others,  who  belonged  to  the  exscinded  mass, 
were  grafted  back  to  their  own  olive  tree  through 
baptism. 

But  the  infant  children  of  all  the  members  of  the 
Church  under  the  Old  Testament  were  regarded  and 
treated  as  members  of  the  Church  themselves,  and  their 
membership  was  sealed  on  the  eighth  day  by  circum- 
cision. 

(5)  Christ  and  his  apostles,  members  of  a  Church 
which  had  always  included  infants,  and  themselves 
circumcised  in  infancy,  in  all  respects  spoke  and  acted 
as  Psedobaptist  ministers  would  in  their  place.  Christ 
blessed  "  little  children,"  and  declared  of  such  is  "  the 
kingdom  of  heaven,"  or  the  visible  Church  under  the 
New  Dispensation  (Matt,  19  :  14;  13  :  47).  He  commis- 
sioned Peter  to  feed  his  lambs  (John  21  :  15-17),  and 
all  the  apostles  to  "  disciple  all  nations "  by  baptizing, 
then  teaching  them  (Matt.  28  :  19,  20). 

The  apostles  were  not  settled  pastors  in  an  established 
Christian  community,  but  itinerant  missionaries  in  an 
unbelieving  world,  sent  not  to  baptize,  but  to  preach  the 
gospel  (1  Cor.  1  :  17).  Hence  we  have  in  Acts  and  the 
Epistles  the  record  of  only  ten  separate  instances  of 
baptism.  In  every  case,  without  a  single  recorded  ex- 
ception where  there  was  a  family,  the  family  was  bap- 
tized as  soon  as  the  head  of  the  family  presented  a  cred- 


BAPTISM.  385 

ible  profession  of  his  faith  (Acts  16  :  15,  32,  33 ;  18  :  8  j 
1  Cor.  1  :  16).  And  in  their  Epistles  they  always  ad- 
dressed children  as  members  of  the  Church  (Eph.  5:1; 
6:1-3;  Col.  3  :  20 ;  1  Cor.  7  :  12-14). 

In  the  most  natural  manner,  without  the  slightest 
hiut  of  change,  and  with  every  incidental  indication 
possible  of  the  uninterrupted  continuance  of  the  his- 
torical church-membership  of  infants,  the  narratives 
of  the  New  Testament  church-life  grow  from  those  of 
the  Old.  The  preaching  of  the  New  Testament  opens 
with  the  explicit  declaration,  abundantly  significant  as 
coming  from  an  apostle  to  a  representative  national  au- 
dience, all  of  whom  knew  of  no  Church  which  had  not 
always  embraced  children  in  its  sacramental ly-sealed 
membership  :  "  The  promise " — i.  e.  the  gospel  cove- 
nant, of  which  circumcision  and  baptism  were  suc- 
cessively the  seals — "is  unto  you  and  to  your  chil- 
dren "  (Acts  2  :  39). 

(6)  The  universal  consent  of  Christians  in  historical 
continuity  with  the  apostles  bears  unbroken  testimony 
to  the  immemorial  right  of  the  children  of  Christian 
professors  to  be  recognized  as  members  of  the  Church 
with  their  parents.  It  is  noticed  in  the  earliest  records 
as  a  universal  custom  and  as  an  apostolical  tradition. 
Justin  Martyr,  writing  a.  d.  138,  says  that  "there  were 
among  Christians  of  his  time  many  persons  of  both 
sexes,  some  sixty  and  some  seventy  years  old,  who  had 
been  made  disciples  of  Christ  from  their  infancy." 
Irenseus,  who  died  about  a.  d.  202,  says :  "  He  came 
to  save  all  by  himself — all,  I  say,  who  by  him  are  born 
again  unto  God,  infants  and  little  children  and  youths." 
The  practice  of  infant  baptism  is  acknowledged  by  Ter- 

25 


386  THE  SACRAMENTS. 

tullian,  bom  in  Carthage  A.  d.  160.  Origen,  born  of 
Christian  parents  in  Egypt  a.  d.  185,  says  that  it  was 
"  the  usage  of  the  Church  to  baptize  infants,"  and  that 
"  the  Church  had  received  the  tradition  from  the  apos- 
tles." Cyprian,  bishop  of  Carthage  from  a.  d.  248  to 
a.  d.  258,  together  with  his  entire  synod,  decided  that 
baptism  should  be  administered  to  infants  before  the 
eighth  day.  St.  Augustine,  born  a.  d.  358,  declared  that 
"  this  doctrine  is  held  by  the  whole  Church,  not  insti- 
tuted by  councils,  but  always  retained."  This  Pelagius 
himself  was  forced  to  admit,  although  he  had  visited  all 
parts  of  the  Church  from  Britain  to  Syria,  and  the  point 
made  by  Augustine  was  fatal  to  the  position  which 
Pelagius  occupied  (Wall's  History  of  Infant  Baptism 
and  Bingham's   Christian  Antiquities,  bk.  xi.  eh.  iv.). 

The  Church  split  into  several  fragments,  Roman, 
Greek,  Arminian,  Nestorian  and  Abyssinian,  all  differ- 
ing in  much,  but  all  agreeing  in  support  of  the  custom 
of  recognizing  and  sealing  infants  as  church-members. 

At  the  time  of  the  Reformation  learned  and  holy  men 
were  raised  up  by  God  in  the  midst  of  every  European 
nation.  There  were  perfectly  independent  movements 
in  each  national  centre  of  reform.  Zwingle,  the  Re- 
former of  the  Swiss ;  Luther,  the  Reformer  of  the  Ger- 
mans ;  Calvin,  the  Reformer  of  the  French ;  Cranmer, 
of  the  English  Church,  and  Knox,  of  the  Scotch,  were 
all  independent,  and  in  some  things  diverse,  yet  they  all 
agreed  spontaneously  in  the  recognition  of  the  church- 
membership  of  the  infant  children  of  believers.  And 
the  great  historic  churches  of  the  Reformation — the 
Anglican,  the  Lutheran,  the  Reformed  or  Presbyterian 
in  all   its  varieties,  the  original  branch   of  the   Inde- 


BAPTISM.  387 

pendents,  the  world-conquering  Methodists — all  unite 
with  the  older  churches,  Eastern  and  Western,  in 
maintaining  this  grand  historic  constitution  of  infant 
church-membership.  Those  who  protest  against  this 
ancient  and  ecumenical  consensus,  however  eminently 
respectable  as  we  affectionately  recognize  them  to  be, 
are  certainly  a  recent  growth,  and  thus  far,  as  com- 
pared with  the  mighty  host,  but  a  small  minority. 

[III.]    What  is  the  Use  of  Infant  Baptism  f 

We  freely  admit  that  our  good  Baptist  brethren,  who 
refuse  to  recognize  and  treat  their  children  as  members 
of  the  Church  of  Christ  from  birth,  nevertheless  enjoy 
with  us  the  very  benefits  which  infant  baptism  asserts 
and  seals.  The  mistakes  of  God's  true  children  will 
never  make  him  unfaithful  to  them  nor  defeat  the  bless- 
ings he  intends  for  them.  Precisely  the  same  is  true  of 
the  truly  Christian  Quakers.  They  enjoy  all  the  bless- 
ings signified  and  sealed  by  the  outward  sacraments,  al- 
though they  neglect  all  of  them  entirely.  Nevertheless, 
our  Baptist  brethren  being  judges,  the  obedient  use  of  the 
sacraments  is  the  more  excellent  way. 

The  use  of  "  infant  baptism  "  is  precisely  the  use  of 
any  sacrament ;  that  is,  the  incomparable  benefit  of  ex- 
ternally signifying  and  sealing  the  benefits  represented. 

1st.  In  the  baptism  of  every  infant  there  are  four 
parties  present  and  concerned  in  the  transaction :  God, 
the  Church,  the  parents  and  the  child.  The  first  three 
are  conscious  and  active,  the  fourth  is  for  the  time  un- 
conscious and  passive. 

2d.  In  the  act  of  baptism  the  use  is  found  at  the  time 
in  the  benefit  resulting  from  binding  the  parents  and  the 
Church  to  the  performance  of  all  their  duties  relating  to 


388  THE  SACRAMENTS. 

the  child,  and  from  binding  upon  the  child  those  special 
obligations  and  sealing  to  the  child  those  special  benefits 
which  spring  from  the  gospel  covenant  as  it  includes  the 
children  with  the  believing  parent.  The  faith  involved 
is  that  of  the  parent  and  of  the  Church,  while  the  un- 
conscious and  passive  beneficiary  is  the  child  himself. 

3d.  Subsequently,  when  the  child  is  taught  and  trained 
under  the  regimen  of  his  baptism — taught  from  the  first 
to  recognize  himself  as  a  child  of  God,  with  all  its  privi- 
leges and  duties ;  trained  to  think,  feel  and  act  as  a  child 
of  God,  to  exercise  filial  love,  to  render  filial  obedience 
— the  benefit  to  the  child  directly  is  obvious  and  immeas- 
urable. He  has  invaluable  birth-right  privileges,  and 
corresponding  obligations  and  responsibilities. 

4th.  It  is  evident  that  this  should  be  •supplemented  by 
a  rite  of  confirmation.  Of  course  I  do  not  here  refer  to 
the  unauthorized  Romish  and  prelatical  sacrament  of  the 
laying  on  of  the  hands  of  one  of  the  changed  successors 
of  the  apostles.  I  refer  simply  to  the  historical,  univer- 
sally-practiced Christian  ordinance  observed  in  bringing 
the  Christianly  instructed  and  trained  children  before  the 
Church  "  when  they  come  to  years  of  discretion,  if  they 
be  free  from  scandal,  appear  sober  and  steady,  and  to  have 
sufficient  knowledge  to  discern  the  Lord's  body,  they 
ought  to  be  informed  it  is  their  duty  and  their  privilege 
to  come  to  the  Lord's  supper  "  (Directory  for  Worship, 
ch.  x.,  §  1).  Then  they  who  have  been  members  of  the 
Church  from  their  birth  are  admitted  to  full  communion, 
and  are  confirmed  in  their  church  standing  upon  their 
voluntarily  taking  upon  themselves  the  vows  originally 
imposed  upon  them  by  their  parents  in  baptism.  This 
is  the  confirmation,  separated  from  the  abortive  mask 


BAPTISM.  389 

of  the  so-called  sacrament,  that  John  Calvin  declared 
was  an  ancient  and  beneficial  custom,  which  he  earnestly 
wished  might  be  continued  in  the  Church  (Institutes,  bk. 
iv.  ch.  xix.  12,  13),  and  which  Dr.  Charles  Hodge  de- 
clared to  be  "  retained  in  some  form  or  other  in  all  Prot- 
estant churches  "  (Princeton  Review,  1855,  p.  445).  As 
far  as  we  misunderstand  or  ignore  this  beautiful  ordi- 
nance of  confirmation  we  abandon  to  the  mercies  of  our 
Baptist  brethren  the  whole  rational  ground  and  reason 
of  infant  baptism. 

[IV.]  Mar  Johanan,  the  Nestorian  bishop,  when  so- 
licited by  High-Churchmen  to  separate  himself  from 
non-prelatical  Christians,  exclaimed,  "All  who  love  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  are  my  brethren."  Above  all  the 
narrow,  meagre  patriotism  on  earth  is  the  large,  free  ecu- 
menical patriotism  of  those  who  embrace  in  their  love 
and  fealty  the  whole  body  of  the  baptized.  All  who  are 
baptized  into  the  name  of  the  Father  and  of  the  Son  and 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  recognizing  the  Trinity  of  Persons  in 
the  Godhead,  the  incarnation  of  the  Son  and  his  priest- 
ly sacrifice,  whether  they  be  Greeks  or  Arminians  or 
Romanists  or  Lutherans  or  Calvinists,  or  the  simple  souls 
who  do  not  know  what  to  call  themselves,  are  our  breth- 
ren. Baptism  is  our  common  countersign.  It  is  the  com- 
mon rallying  standard  at  the  head  of  our  several  columns. 
It  is  our  common  battle-flag,  which  we  carry  forward 
across  the  enemy's  line  and  nail  aloft  in  the  heights 
crowned  with  victory.  We  will  be  confined  in  our  love 
and  allegiance  by  no  party  lines.  We  follow  and  serve 
one  common  Lord.  Hence  there  can  be  only  "  oue  Lord, 
one  faith,  one  baptism,"  and  hence  only  one  indivisible, 
inalienable  "  sacramental  host  of  God's  elect." 


LECTURE    XVII. 

THE  LORD'S  SUPPER. 

We  now  enter  the  innermost  Most  Holy  Place  of  the 
Christian  temple.  We  approach  the  sacred  altar  on 
which  lies  quivering  before  our  eyes  the  bleeding  heart 
of  Christ.  We  come  to  the  most  private  and  personal 
meeting-place,  appointed  rendezvous,  between  our  Lord 
and  his  beloved.  We  are  here  to  have  discovered  to  us 
the  Christian  mysteries  which  have  been  carefully  re- 
served for  hundreds  of  generations  for  the  initiated 
alone.  To  all  else  the  wide  world  is  invited  without 
limit  and  without  condition,  but  to  this  sacred  rite  the 
covenanted  brethren  alone.  It  marks  the  central,  vital 
epochs  in  the  believer's  life  and  intercourse  with  heaven. 
It  marks  hence  the  successive  stages  of  his  pilgrimage 
along  the  King's  highway  toward  the  New  Jerusalem  and 
the  banqueting-halls  of  our  Father's  house.  It  is  con- 
sequently the  central  ordinance  in  the  whole  circle  of 
church-life,  around  which  all  the  other  ministries  of  the 
Church  revolve,  and  through  which  we  have  exhibited  to 
the  outward  senses  the  indwelling  of  God  with  men,  the 
real  presence  and  objective  reality  of  "  the  holy  catholic 
Church,"  and  the  reality  and  power  of  "  the  communion 
of  saints."  It  will  be  our  place  to  rehearse  succinctly 
its  biblical  and  ecclesiastical  names,  its  genesis,  its  matter 

390 


THE  LORD'S  SUPPER.  391 

(including  its  elements  and  sacramental  actions),  its  de- 
sign and  significance  and  effect,  and  its  future  promise. 

I.  (1st)  It  is  called  by  the  apostle  (1  Cor.  11  :  20), 
and  after  him  by  the  Christian  Church  in  all  ages,  by 
the  familiar  and  touching  title,  the  "  Lord's  Supper." 
The  Greek  word  dziizvov,  here  translated  "  Supper," 
properly  designated  what  we  would  now  call  the  dinner 
or  the  principal  meal  of  the  Jews,  taken  by  them  and  by 
all  Eastern  nations  generally  late  in  the  afternoon  or  in 
the  evening  of  the  day.  The  sacrament  inherited  this 
name  by  natural  descent,  because  our  Saviour  instituted 
it  while  he  and  his  disciples  were  partaking  of  this  meal. 
It  is  called  the  Lord's  Supper  because  it  was  instituted 
at  his  lad  supper  with  his  disciples  to  commemorate  his 
death  and  to  signify  and  to  convey  and  seal  his  grace. 

(2d)  It  is  also  called  by  the  apostle  (1  Cor.  10  :  21), 
and  after  him  by  all  Christians,  "the  Lord's  Table." 
The  word  "  Table  "  here  of  course  stands  for  the  gra- 
cious provisions  spread  upon  it  and  for  the  entire  service 
connected  with  it.  It  is  the  "  table  "  to  which  the  pre- 
cious Lord  invites  his  guests  and  at  which  he  himself 
graciously  presides. 

(3d)  It  is  called  also  by  the  apostle  the  "  Cup  of  Bless- 
ing" (1  Cor.  10:  16),  the  cup  blessed  by  Christ,  and  so 
consecrated  to  be  the  vehicle  of  supernatural  blessings 
graciously  conveyed  to  men  worthily  partaking.  In 
Christ's  name  and  in  virtue  of  his  commission  the  or- 
dained minister  now  "  blesses  "-4.  e.  invokes  the  divine 
blessing  upon — these  elements  that  they  may  be  made  the 
instruments  of  conveying  this  blessing  to  the  worthy 
partakers  of  them. 

(4th)  This  service   is  also  called  "  the  Communion" 


392  THE  LORD'S  SUPPER. 

(1  Cor.  10:16).  This  and  "  the  Sacrament "  are  the  titles 
most  commonly  given  by  the  way  of  eminence  to  this 
sacred  rite.  The  act  of  partaking  of  these  holy  symbols, 
if  intelligent  and  sincere,  involves  the  most  real  and  in- 
timate communion — i.  e.  a  mutual  giving  and  receiving — 
between  Christ,  the  Head  and  the  Heart  of  the  Church, 
and  his  living  members,  and  consequently  a  vital  inter- 
change of  influences  between  all  the  living  members  of 
that  spiritual  body  of  which  he  is  the  Head. 

(5th)  The  evangelist  Luke  also  calls  this  sacrament  on 
one  occasion  (Acts  2  :  42)  "  the  Breaking  of  Bread,"  be- 
cause the  symbolical  action  of  the  officiating  minister  in 
breaking  the  bread  signifies  the  precious  truths  that  the 
flesh  of  Christ,  torn  for  us  sacrificially,  purchased  our 
redemption,  and  that,  as  we  all  partake  of  one  bread  as 
we  receive  one  Christ,  so  we  shall  all  be  one  in  the  most 
vital  and  spiritual  sense  in  time  and  eternally. 

(6th)  This  holy  ordinance  is  also  called  by  our  Lu- 
theran brethren,  in  their  symbolical  books,  "  sacr  amentum 
altaris"  the  sacrament  of  the  altar,  because  they  have  ac- 
cepted so  far  the  Romish  tradition,  retained  also  in  the 
Anglican  Church,  which  has  transformed  the  "  commu- 
nion table"  of  Christ  and  his  apostles  into  an  altar.  This 
of  course  the  Lutherans,  who  are  strict  Protestants,  use 
only  in  a  figurative,  commemorative  sense,  because  this 
sacrament  is  in  no  sense  an  atoning  sacrifice,  except  in  so 
far  as  it  is  the  commemoration  of  the  one  all-perfect,  all- 
satisfying  sacrifice  which  our  Lord  offered  in  his  own 
body  on  the  cross  eighteen  hundred  years  ago. 

(7th)  In  the  ancient  Church,  as  among  some  of  the 
moderns,  agapse  or  "  love  feasts  "  were  held,  at  which 
all  the  Christians  of  a  community  assembled  and  feasted 


THE  LORD'S  SUPPER.  393 

in  common.  At  these  the  consecrated  elements  of  the 
Holy  Supper  were  distributed  and  received.  The  name 
of  the  feast  thus  came  to  be  applied  to  the  sacrament 
which  was  the  crown  of  the  whole. 

(8th)  It  was  called  in  the  ancient  Church  often  "  a 
sacrifice,  an  offering."  But  it  was  never  understood  to 
be  a  real  sin-expiating  sacrifice  in  itself.  It  was  given 
this  name,  since  so  sadly  perverted  in  the  Roman  Church, 
only  because  it  represents  commemoratively  the  one  fin- 
ished sacrifice  of  Christ,  and  because  it  is  connected  with 
the  spiritual  sacrifices  of  the  worshiper's  heart  aud  life 
(Heb.  13  :  15),  and  with  an  accompanying  collection  and 
oblation  of  alms  for  the  poor  of  the  church. 

(9th)  One  of  the  most  beautiful  of  all  the  designa- 
tions this  sacred  service  has  borne  is  that  of  "  Eucharist," 
from  the  Greek  word  euxapioveco,  to  give  thanks.  To 
"  ask  a  blessing  "  upon  our  food  and  "  to  give  thanks  " 
for  it  have  always  been  intimately  associated  in  Christian 
practice.  According  to  Matt.  26  :  26,  27,  our  Lord  is 
represented  as  "  having  blessed  "  the  bread,  and  then  as 
having  given  thanks  when  presenting  the  cup.  It  is 
both  "  the  cup  of  blessing  "  upon  which  we  have  in- 
voked the  divine  blessing  (1  Cor.  10  :  16),  the  cup  of 
thanksgiving,  "the  cup  of  salvation,"  which  we  take 
in  the  house  of  the  Lord,  calling  upon  his  name  and 
giving  thanks  for  his  salvation  (Ps.  116  :  13). 

II.  Its  Genesis. — This  is  essentially  and  immediately 
the  personal  sacrament  of  Jesus  Christ.  It  was  imme- 
diately instituted  by  him  in  person  while  partaking  of 
the  last  supper  with  his  disciples.  It  immediately  com- 
memorates his  death.  It  is  always  administered  by  his 
direct  authority.    The  worthy  communicant  immediately 


394  THE  LORD'S  SUPPER. 

communicates  with  the  present  Christ.  The  reality  of  the 
sacrament  depends  entirely  upon  his  being  really,  imme- 
diately present  in  the  act.  Take  away  either  its  original 
institution  by  Christ  or  the  immediate  presence  of  Christ 
in  every  repeated  celebration  of  it,  and  it  is  no  sacrament 
at  all.  Nevertheless,  like  every  other  scriptural  ordi- 
nance, it  was  not  suddenly  thrust  into  existence  with- 
out any  foregoing  preparation.  All  things,  divine  sacra- 
ments as  well  as  others,  obey  the  law  of  continuity,  and 
grow  under  the  special  providence  of  God  out  of  long- 
prepared  roots  or  seeds.  The  divinely-prepared  historic 
root  of  the  Lord's  Supper  was,  as  is  well  known,  the 
Passover.  The  nation  of  Israel  was  the  type  of  the 
Christian  Church.  The  deliverance  of  that  nation  from 
the  bondage  of  Egypt,  and  the  redemption  of  her  sons 
from  the  slaughter  which  overtook  the  first-born  of  every 
Egyptian  household,  were  types  of  our  redemption  from 
sin.  The  paschal  lamb  was  a  type  of  Christ.  The  pas- 
chal supper  with  its  attendant  rites  represented,  under 
the  Old  Economy,  the  external  redemption  already  ac- 
complished, and  no  less  the  future  perfect  redemption  to 
be  afterward  accomplished  when  Christ  the  true  paschal 
lamb  was  sacrificed.  The  Lord's  Supper  commemorates 
the  same  redemption,  looking  backward  to  the  already 
accomplished  fact.  The  Christian  Sunday  is  an  historical 
continuation  of  the  Jewish  Sabbath,  only  the  clay  of  the 
week  changes,  and  runs  back  in  absolutely  unbroken 
continuity  through  the  ages — through  the  ages  before 
the  Flood,  through  the  years  before  the  Fall — it  and 
matrimony  being  the  only  monuments  of  the  golden  age 
of  innocency.  Each  recurrent  holy  day  stands  to  us  first 
as  a  monument  of  the  sovereignty  of  Jehovah  as  Creator, 


THE  LORD'S  SUPPER.  395 

and  secondly,  as  a  monument  of  our  redemption  consum- 
mated in  the  resurrection  of  our  Lord.  Every  Lord's 
Day  when  we  celebrate  the  Holy  Supper  we  repeat  in  a 
chain  of  unbroken  continuity  the  memorial  of  his  sacri- 
ficial death.  And  in  the  beautiful  circle  of  the  Christian 
year,  Holy  Week,  Good  Friday,  Easter,  we  repeat  in  a 
far  longer  chain  of  unbroken  continuity  the  Christian  sac- 
rament of  the  Supper,  looking  back  over  a  vista  of  nearly 
eighteen  centuries  and  three  quarters  to  its  institution, 
and  also  over  a  vista  nearly  twice  as  long,  of  nearly  three 
thousand  five  hundred  years,  to  the  institution  of  the 
first  Passover  and  the  redemption  of  Israel  from  the 
bondage  of  Egypt. 

When  God  delivered  the  children  of  Israel  from  their 
bondage  in  Egypt  he  sent  forth  his  angel  commissioned 
to  destroy  the  first-born  in  each  Egyptian  household.  He 
commanded  the  Israelites  by  families  or  small  groups  of 
families  to  select  a  male  lamb  of  the  first  year  without 
blemish,  and  slay  it  at  the  setting  of  the  sun,  and  with 
a  sprig  of  hyssop  sprinkle  the  lintels  and  sideposts  of  the 
doors  of  their  houses.  The  blood  was  to  them  as  a  token 
upon  the  houses  where  they  were,  for  when  the  Lord 
saw  the  blood  he  passed  over  them,  so  that  the  plague 
which  destroyed  the  Egyptians  did  not  come  upon  them. 
They  were  also  commanded  to  roast  the  flesh  of  the  lamb 
that  night,  and  to  eat  it  entirely  before  the  morning  with 
unleavened  bread  and  bitter  herbs:  with  their  loins 
girded,  and  their  feet  shod  and  their  staves  in  their 
hands  they  were  to  eat  it  in  haste,  ready  to  depart  (Ex. 
12  and  13). 

Hence  the  Lord  appointed  the  Passover,  or  Feast  of 
Unleavened  Bread,  as  a  sacramental  memorial  in  their 


396  THE  LORD'S  SUPPER. 

generations,  as  an  ordinance  for  ever.  On  the  14th  of 
Nisan  the  house  and  all  the  utensils  were  diligently- 
searched  and  purged  of  leaven,  which,  as  incipient  pu- 
trefaction, was  the  symbol  of  moral  corruption.  At 
evening,  the  beginning  of  the  15th  of  Nisan,  the  paschal 
lamb  was  sacrificed  and  his  blood  sprinkled  on  the  altar 
and  the  fat  burned  (2  Chron.  30  :  16 ;  35  :  11).  The 
lamb  was  roasted  whole  and  eaten  entirely  by  the  assem- 
bled household,  with  unleavened  bread  and  bitter  herbs. 
Four  cups  of  wine,  the  Mishna  tells  us,  were  always 
drunk.  Two  of  these  are  distinctly  mentioned  in  Luke 
22 :  17-20.  Our  Lord,  Luke  says,  took  one  cup  and 
gave  thanks,  and  said,  "  Take  this,  and  divide  it  among 
yourselves."  "  Likewise  also  he  took  the  "  second  "cup 
after  supper,  saying,"  etc.  They  also  always  sang  the 
Hallel,  or  praise-psalms,  consisting  of  all  the  Psalms  in 
our  Bible  from  the  113th  to  the  118th  inclusive.  The 
first  part,  including  the  113th  and  114th  Psalms,  was 
sung  early  in  the  meal,  and  the  115th,  116th,  117th  and 
118th  Psalms  at  the  close,  after  the  fourth  or  last  cup 
of  wine  had  been  drunk.  This  is  the  "  hymn  "  alluded 
to  (Matt.  26  :  30 ;  Mark  14  :  26)  when  it  is  said,  "And 
when  they  had  sung  a  hymn,  they  went  out  into  the 
Mount  of  Olives." 

After  the  filling  of  the  second  cup  of  wine,  and  just 
before  the  eating  of  the  paschal  lamb  began,  the  son  or 
some  other  member  of  the  family  asked  the  father,  who 
presided  as  the  prophet  and  priest  of  his  household,  what 
was  the  meaning  of  the  peculiar  arrangements  of  this 
feast  (Ex.  12  :  26).  Then  the  father  rehearsed  the  his- 
tory of  their  great  national  redemption,  and  expounded 
the  symbolical  and  commemorative  and  the  moral  and 


THE  LORD'S  SUPPER.  397 

religious  significance  of  the  traditional  observance.  The 
whole  service  was  at  the  same  time  a  pious  memorial  of 
the  redemption  of  the  lives  of  the  first-born  of  Israel, 
and  of  the  nation  itself  from  the  bondage  of  Egypt,  and 
a  type  or  prophetical  symbol  of  the  redemption  of  men 
by  the  sacrifice  on  the  cross  of  the  body  of  Jesus  Christ. 
Therefore  Christ  came  up  to  the  feast  of  the  Passover 
on  purpose  to  be  offered  up  a  Sacrifice  for  the  sins  of  the 
world.  When  many  came  up  out  of  the  country  to  be 
purified  before  the  Passover,  "they  sought  for  Jesus, 
and  spake  among  themselves,  as  they  stood  in  the  tem- 
ple, What  think  ye,  that  he  will  not  come  to  the  feast  ?" 
They  little  knew  the  significance  of  their  own  question. 
Of  course  he  would  come.  If  he  did  not,  the  entire  his- 
torical development  of  the  Jewish  people  for  nearly  two 
millenniums  would  have  been  a  failure.  The  meaning 
and  fruition  of  the  entire  line  of  prophets  and  of  priests, 
of  sacrificial  offerings  and  of  periodical  feasts,  depended 
upon  his  coming  up  to  this  particular  feast,  fulfilling  the 
promise,  giving  reality  to  the  symbolical  representation 
of  all  that  had  gone  before.  Therefore  he  at  once  ful- 
filled all  the  prophecy  of  the  past  and  inaugurated  the 
future  of  realized  redemption.  He  ate  with  the  disciples 
the  flesh  and  bread  of  the  typical  Passover,  and  while 
doing  so  he  gave  to  the  elements  a  new  and  higher  sig- 
nificance, and  thus  developed  out  of  the  paschal  supper 
of  the  past  the  Lord's  Supper  of  the  incomparably  more 
glorious  future.  So  he  took  the  bread — the  same  un- 
leavened bread  which  had  been  eaten  from  the  beginning 
for  sixteen  hundred  years — and  gave  thanks  and  brake 
it,  and  gave  unto  them,  saying,  "  This  is  my  body,  which 
is  given  for  you ;  this  do  in  remembrance  of  me."     As 


398  THE  LORD'S  SUPPER. 

if  he  bad  said,  You  will  no  more  need  to  kill  and  eat  the 
paschal  lamb,  for  I,  Christ,  am  your  true  Passover,  sac- 
rificed for  you  (1  Cor.  5  :  7).  But  this  bread  I  appoint 
to  be  the  symbol  of  my  sacrificed  body ;  take  and  eat  it 
until  I  come  again,  in  remembrance  of  me.  Likewise 
also  he  took  the  last,  or  fourth  cup,  after  supper — the 
same  cup  which  had  been  drunk  for  ages  uncounted  at 
the  close  of  the  paschal  supper.  This  aucient  cup,  with 
all  its  historical  associations,  he  took  up,  and  instantly 
glorified  it  with  new  meaning.  This  cup  hereafter  you 
are  to  continue  to  drink  until  the  end.  It  is  henceforth 
the  new  testament  in  my  blood,  which  is  shed  fur  you  ; 
drink  ye  all  of  it  (Matt.  26  :  26,  28 ;  Luke  22  :  20). 
And  from  that  awful  night  until  to-day,  for  upward  of 
eighteen  hundred  and  fifty  years,  the  disciples  of  Christ 
of  every  nation  and  rite  have  endeavored,  with  more  or 
less  success,  to  keep  this  feast  of  the  Christian  Passover 
with  the  unleavened  bread  of  sincerity  and  truth  (1  Cor. 
5:8). 

III.  The  matter  of  the  Lord's  Supper  consists  (1)  of 
the  elements  used,  aud  (2)  of  the  sacramental  actions 
which  are  performed  in  their  use.  The  elements  consist, 
as  all  Christians  are  agreed,  of  bread  and  wine. 

1st.  The  bread  used  in  the  original  sacrament  was  the 
unleavened  bread  which  had  been  used  by  divine  com- 
mand in  the  paschal  feast  from  the  time  of  Moses  to  that 
of  Christ.  But  Christ  speaks  of  it,  in  instituting  the 
sacrament,  not  as  "  unleavened,"  but  as  "  bread."  The 
point  of  the  symbolism  is  that  as  bread,  our  daily  bread, 
is  the  staif  of  life  and  nourishes  the  body,  so  Christ  in 
his  divine-human  Person  and  mediatorial  offices  nour- 
ishes our  souls  when  apprehended  by  faith.     It  is  evi- 


THE  LORD'S  SUPPER.  399 

dent,  from  the  allusions  to  its  observance  throughout  the 
Acts  and  the  Epistles,  that  the  apostles  commemorated 
the  communion  in  connection  with  ordinary  social  meals 
and  iu  the  use  of  whatever  bread  happened  to  be  pres- 
ent, which  on  such  occasions  we  know  to  have  been  the 
common  leavened  bread.  Although  it  is  obviously  a 
matter  of  indifference  what  particular  form  of  bread 
should  be  used,  a  controversy  sprang  up  between  the 
Greek  and  Koman  churches  as  to  the  kind  of  bread  it  is 
proper  to  use  in  the  Eucharist.  The  Greek  Church  in- 
sisted that  the  bread  used  should  be  leavened,  and  main- 
tained that  the  continued  use  of  unleavened  bread  was  a 
remnant  of  Judaism.  The  Roman  Church  insisted  upon 
the  use  of  unleavened  bread.  The  Lutheran  branch  of 
the  Protestant  Church  adheres  to  the  practice  of  Rome 
in  this  particular.  The  great  body  of  the  Reformed 
churches,  including  the  Anglican  Church,  on  the  con- 
trary, maintain  that  the  kind  of  bread  is  not  essential, 
but  that  the  wafer  used  by  the  Romanists  is  not  properly 
bread,  which  is  the  staff  of  life,  the  ordinary  food  of 
man.  We  therefore,  by  an  eminently  proper  tradition, 
use  ordinary  leavened  loaf  bread,  so  prepared  that  the 
unity  of  the  "  one  bread  "  of  which  all  partake  is  visibly 
set  forth,  and  this  is  broken  before  the  people  into  parts, 
so  that  they,  being  many,  all  partake  of  one  bread. 

2d.  The  contents  of  the  cup  were  wine.  This  is  known 
to  have  been  "the  juice  of  the  grape,"  not  in  its  original 
state  as  freshly  expressed,  but  as  prepared  in  the  form  of 
wine  for  permanent  use  among  the  Jews.  "  Wine,"  ac- 
cording to  the  absolutely  unanimous,  unexceptional  tes- 
timony of  every  scholar  and  missionary,  is  in  its  essence 
"  fermented  grape-juice."     Nothing  else  is  wine.     The 


400  THE  LORD'S  SUPPER. 

use  of  "  wine  "  is  precisely  what  is  commanded  by  Christ 
in  his  example  and  his  authoritative  institution  of  this 
holy  ordinance.  Whosoever  puts  away  true  and  real 
wine,  or  fermented  grape-juice,  on  moral  grounds,  from 
the  Lord's  Supper,  sets  himself  up  as  more  moral  than 
the  Son  of  God  who  reigns  over  his  conscience,  and 
than  the  Saviour  of  souls  who  redeemed  him.  There 
has  been  absolutely  universal  consent  on  this  subject  in 
the  Christian  Church  until  modern  times,  when  the 
practice  has  been  opposed,  not  upon  change  of  evidence, 
but  solely  on  prudential  considerations.  Many  Chris- 
tians have,  however,  mingled  water  with  the  wine,  be- 
cause it  was  an  ancient  custom  probably  practiced  by 
Christ  himself,  and  also  by  some  because  water  mingled 
with  the  blood  flowed  from  his  broken  heart  (John 
19  :  34). 

But  the  Lord's  Supper  is  not  a  material  object,  some- 
thing, like  the  "  Host "  in  the  Roman  Catholic  worship, 
that  can  be  enclosed  in  a  box,  carried  about,  lifted  up 
and  worshiped.  It  is  in  its  essence  a  transaction,  some- 
thing performed  in  time,  having  a  commencement,  a  prog- 
ress and  a  conclusion.  Hence  we  Presbyterians  hold  that 
the  consecrated  elements  cannot  be  carried  from  the 
church  after  the  celebration  of  the  communion  by  the 
minister  to  sick  and  absent  communicants.  If  a  person 
is  not  present  at  the  communion  he  does  not  commune, 
no  matter  how  much  he  partakes  of  the  bread  or  wine 
which  remains.  The  only  proper  way  to  meet  the  cases 
of  sick  communicants  is  for  the  minister  to  take  repre- 
sentatively the  Church  with  him  to  the  sick-room,  and 
there  go  through  the  service  in  all  its  parts. 

Since,  then,  the  communion  is  a  transaction,  the  sacra- 


THE  LORD'S  SUPPER.  401 

mental  actions  involved  are  as  essential  parts  of  it  as  the 
elements  of  bread  and  wine.    These  are — 

1st.  The  "  blessing,"  or  consecrating  prayer,  in  which 
we  ask  God  to  set  apart  as  much  of  the  elements  as  we 
shall  consume  to  their  sacramental  use,  to  bless  them  to 
us,  and  us  in  their  use ;  in  which,  moreover,  we  invoke 
the  presence  of  Christ,  the  great  Master  of  assemblies, 
as  one  of  us  in  our  midst,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  our 
hearts. 

2d.  The  "  breaking  of  bread,"  symbolical  of  the  sac- 
rificial breaking  of  the  body  of  Christ  upon  the  cross, 
and  also  of  the  oneness  of  believers,  who,  being  many,, 
all  partake  of  one  Bread.  This  is  so  prominent  that 
the  entire  service  is  once  designated  from  this  one  feature 
(Acts  2  :  42). 

3d.  The  distribution  and  reception.  In  these  acts  the 
whole  communion  culminates  and  concludes.  The  sacred 
character  of  the  elements  does  not  consist  in  themselves, 
but  in  their  use.  As  soon  as  this  use  is  completed  the 
bread  and  wine,  whether  in  the  body  of  the  recipient  or 
remaining  in  the  vessels  of  the  service,  are  no  more  holy 
than  any  other  specimen  of  their  kind  in  the  world.  In 
the  Roman,  Anglican,  and  Lutheran  churches  the  minis- 
ter in  person  conveys  the  bread  and  wine  carefully  to  the 
mouth  of  each  communicant.  In  the  Reformed  churches, 
on  the  contrary,  the  elements  are  distributed  by  elders,  or 
"  representatives  of  the  people,"  who  carry  the  elements 
and  set  them  before  the  communicants,  each  one  of 
whom  is  expected  to  receive  and  appropriate  them  with 
his  own  hands.  The  Lord  says  to  each  of  us,  "  Take, 
eat."  The  communion  always  implies  an  active  attitude 
upon  the  part  of  each  recipient.     Each  communicant  for 

26 


402  THE  LORD'S  SUPPER. 

himself  transacts  with  his  present  Lord.  Each  one  re- 
ceives and  appropriates  to  himself  by  faith  Christ  and 
all  the  sacrificial  benefits  of  his  redemption.  It  is, 
therefore,  a  cruel  and  an  injurious  perversion  of  this 
ordinance  when  the  minister,  not  satisfied  with  all  his 
other  opportunities  of  preaching,  throws  his  fellow-com- 
municants into  a  passive  attitude  at  the  Lord's  Table 
by  his  ceaseless  addresses,  fencing  of  tables  and  charges 
and  preachments  of  -whatever  kind.  Christ  is  present. 
Every  believer  at  the  table  should  be  left  alone  with 
his  Lord.  All  that  one  fellow-communicant,  minister 
or  other,  can  do  for  his  fellow  in  such  a  case  is  to 
stimulate  and  direct  his  activities  Christward.  This 
can  be  done  only  by  leading  in  direct  acts  of  worship,  in 
appropriate  hymns  and  prayers,  or  in  the  simple,  quiet 
recitation  of  the  words  of  Christ  himself.  Who  besides 
Christ  should  dare  to  discourse  at  the  communion?  All 
that  the  minister  can  possibly  have  any  true  call  to  say, 
in  the  way  of  instruction,  exhortation  or  warning,  can 
surely  be  delivered  previously  in  the  "  preparatory  ser- 
vices "  or  in  the  "  action  sermon." 

IV.  TJie  Design  or  Meaning  of  the  Sacrament. — This, 
of  course,  is  the  heart  of  the  whole  ordinance.  The  one 
necessity  for  us  is  to  have  clear  and  comprehensive  views 
as  to  what  meanings  the  sacrament  bears,  and  as  to  the 
uses  it  is  designed  to  serve  for  us.  Comprehension  here 
is  as  much  to  be  sought  as  clearness,  because  this  con- 
summate means  of  grace  has  many  sides,  like  a  dia- 
mond cut  with  many  facets,  and  sustains  many  relations 
and  accomplishes  blessings  for  us  in  many  different  ways. 
The  real  truth  here,  as  elsewhere,  is  to  be  found  only  in 
the  view  which  takes  in  the  whole  on  all  sides. 


THE  LORD'S  SUPPER.  403 

Let  us  begin,  therefore,  with  the  surface  meanings 
and  lower  uses,  and  rise  gradually  toward  the  heart  and 
inner  mystery  of  the  whole. 

1st.  This  sacrament  is,  in  the  first  place,  avowedly  and 
self-evidently  a  commemorative  rite.  The  Master  said 
when  he  instituted  it,  "  This  do  in  remembrance  of  Me." 
And  ever  since  that  awful  night  endless  successions  of 
disciples  have  gathered  to  perform  these  sacred  rites 
with  the  intention  of  "  showing  forth  his  death  till 
he  come." 

The  great  mass  of  men  pass  away  in  indistinguishable 
throngs,  falling  like  the  leaves  of  the  forest  in  mass, 
their  individuality  lost  to  human  recollection  in  this 
world  for  ever.  The  memory  of  some  few  men  out 
of  the  thousands  linger  long  and  fade  slowly  into  the 
night  of  oblivion.  A  very  few  epoch-making  men,  as 
Moses,  Paul,  Augustine,  Luther,  change  the  course  of 
human  history  and  live  for  ever  in  the  new  world  they 
inaugurate.  But  it  is  only  Christ  the  incarnate  God, 
Christ  the  perfect  Man,  Christ  the  bleeding  Price  of 
man's  redemption,  Christ  the  resurgent  Victor  over 
death  and  hell,  whose  ever-present  memory  is  the  con- 
dition of  all  progressive  thought  and  life.  The  mem- 
ory of  Christ  as  the  great  character  of  all  history  has 
become  omnipresent  in  all  literature,  philosophy,  ethics, 
politics  and  life.  All  experience,  all  existence,  witness 
to  him.  The  whole  universe  repeats  his  story  and  keeps 
him  eternally  in  mind.  Monuments  (monere)  exist  to 
keep  persons  and  events  in  mind.  They  are  of  many 
kinds,  as  of  earth  or  stone  or  brass  or  changes  wrought 
in  the  forms  of  human  speech  or  action,  or  other  observ- 
ances to  be  repeated  for  ever  at  intervals.     This  latter 


404  THE  LORD  'S  SUPPER. 

kind  are  incomparably  more  effective  and  imperishable 
as  memorials  than  the  others.  The  Tower  of  Babel,  the 
Pyramids  of  Egypt,  the  most  stupendous  material  monu- 
ments the  world  has  ever  seen,  have  either  perished  or 
are  far  gone  in  decay,  while  the  history  they  were  erected 
to  commemorate  is  lost  beyond  the  rational  guess  of 
critics.  And  yet  the  Sabbath-Day  monument  of  crea- 
tion, thousands  of  years  older  than  the  Pyramids,  and 
the  Lord's  Supper,  which  in  its  historic  roots  in  the 
Passover  was  brought  into  being  at  the  very  feet  of  the 
then  young  Pyramids  themselves,  remain  as  fresh  and 
as  articulate  with  their  original  significance  as  at  their 
birth.  These  observational  monuments  are  likewise 
omnipresent  the  world  over,  as  well  as  imperishable. 
The  Sabbath  Day  and  the  Lord's  Supper,  preserved 
and  disseminated  with  absolutely  unbroken  continuity 
down  the  ages  and  throughout  the  nations,  keep  the 
memory  of  Christ  alive  just  as  it  was  at  the  first,  because 
their  very  existence  and  their  constant  repetition  are  the 
unfaded  testimony  of  Christ's  contemporaries,  the  ac- 
cumulated testimony  of  all  the  ages  that  Jesus  Christ 
was  in  very  fact  delivered  sacrificially  for  our  offences 
and  raised  again  for  our  justification  (Rom.  4 :  25). 

2d.  It  is  no  less  obvious  that  the  sacrament  is  an 
object-lesson  addressed  to  the  eye,  a  picture  of  the  es- 
sential central  verities  of  the  gospel  to  be  seen  accom- 
panying and  enforcing  the  preached  or  read  Word 
addressed  to  the  ear.  God  has  so  constituted  us  as 
composed  of  soul  and  body  that  all  impressions  made 
on  the  senses  naturally  compel  the  attention  and  excite 
the  corresponding  emotions  more  powerfully  than  ab- 
stract ideas  expressed  in  words.     This  is  the  source  of 


THE  LORD'S  SUPPER.  405 

the  power  of  all  music  and  poetry  and  art  which  appeal 
to  the  senses,  the  imagination  and  the  feelings.  Experi- 
ence has  proved  that  when  men  invent  improved  meth- 
ods of  exhibitiug  the  gospel  beyond  the  narrow  limits 
of  illustration  explicitly  authorized  by  the  Master,  in- 
finite corruption  is  the  swift  result.  But  certainly  we 
are  safe  as  long  as  our  liturgical  scheme  keeps  accu- 
rately within  the  limits  prescribed  by  the  positive  com- 
mands of  Christ  and  the  example  of  his  apostles.  The 
excess  of  the  Papists  and  Ritualists,  on  the  one  hand,  is 
not  more  dishonoring  to  Christ  and  injurious  to  the 
spiritual  interests  of  his  Church  than  the  unauthorized 
restrictions  of  the  Quakers  on  the  other. 

This  pictorial  exhibition  of  the  central  truths  of  the 
gospel  presented  in  the  elements  and  sacramental  actions 
of  the  Lord's  Supper  is  of  course  reinforced  and  ren- 
dered many  times  more  effective  by  the  fact  that  all  the 
worshipers  take  part  personally,  each  one  for  himself,  in 
those  sacramental  actions.  Not  only  is  the  mind  exer- 
cised with  divine  truth,  not  only  are  the  senses  appealed 
to,  and  the  emotions  through  the  senses,  but  the  will  is 
immediately  called  into  action,  and  the  outward  acts  of 
taking  and  of  eating  and  drinking  correspond  in  the  con- 
sciousness immediately  with  the  inward  acts  of  receiving 
and  appropriating  Christ  and  the  benefits  of  his  redemp- 
tion. It  is  for  this  reason  that  the  Reformed  insist  so 
emphatically  upon  the  communicant  actively  taking  and 
appropriating  the  elements  with  his  own  hands,  and  that 
we  so  urgently  exhort  the  minister  not  to  throw  the 
worshipers  at  the  communion  into  a  passive  attitude  by 
his  instructions  and  exhortations,  but  to  confine  himself 
to  the  legitimate  office  of  stimulating  and  guiding  their 


406  THE  LORD'S  SUPPER. 

spiritual  activities  by  leading  them  iu  direct  acts  of 
worship  and  covenanting  with  the  Lord. 

3d.  It  is  also  obvious,  and  universally  recognized,  that 
this  holy  communion  service  is  a  visible  mark  or  badge 
of  Christian  discipleship ;  an  appointed  form  whereby 
repentant  rebels  are  to  lay  down  their  rebellion  and  take 
up  and  profess  their  new  allegiance  to  their  Lord  ;  and 
a  conspicuous  sign  whereby  the  Church  and  her  members 
are  to  be  distinguished  from  the  world.  Every  human 
society  finds  such  a  visible,  easily-recognized  sign  or 
badge  indispensable,  and  this  especially  when  the  mem- 
bers of  the  society  in  question  are  commingled  in  hostile 
relations  with  foreign  elements.  And  it  is  obvious  that 
every  such  badge  of  membership  and  pledge  of  loyalty 
to  be  effective  must,  like  the  flag  of  the  nation,  be  au- 
thoritatively imposed  by  the  central  sovereignty. 

True  living  faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  the  only 
absolutely  necessary  condition  of  salvation,  because  if  a 
man  exercises  true  faith  in  the  very  article  of  death,  as 
did  the  thief  upon  the  cross,  he  shall  be  certainly  saved. 
Nevertheless,  it  is  evident  that  in  the  social  state  true 
faith,  if  it  exists,  must  express  itself  in  full  and  open 
acknowledgment  of  the  Lord,  and  that  salvation  must 
be  conditioned  upon  open  loyal  confession  and  upon  open 
loyal  obedience,  as  much  as  upon  an  internal  princi- 
ple of  faith.  The  faith  is  the  root.  It  comes  first,  and  the 
true  profession  and  obedience  depend  upon  it,  and  can- 
not exist  without  it.  Nevertheless,  in  the  advanced  stage 
the  fruit  is  just  as  essential  as  the  root,  and  the  tree  that 
finally  fails  to  bear  fruit  will  be  cut  down  and  cast  into 
the  fire.  The  judgment  asserted  by  Christ  is  unavoid- 
able :  "  Whosoever  therefore  shall  confess  me  before  men, 


THE  LORD'S  SUPPER.  407 

him  will  I  confess  also  before  my  Father  which  is  in 
heaven.  But  whosoever  shall  deny  me  before  men,  him 
will  I  also  deny  before  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven  " 
(Matt.  10  :  32,  33).  Hence  the  conditions  of  salvation 
as  proclaimed  by  the  Master  himself  include  public  con- 
fession as  well  as  faith  :  "  Go  ye  into  all  the  world,  and 
preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature.  He  that  believeth 
and  is  baptized  shall  be  saved;  but  he  that  believeth 
not  shall  be  damned"  (Mark  16  :  15,  16).  This  princi- 
ple is  explicitly  emphasized  by  the  apostle  Paul :  "  The 
word  of  faith,  which  we  preach  :  that  if  thou  shalt  con- 
fess with  thy  mouth  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  shalt  believe 
in  thine  heart  that  God  hath  raised  him  from  the  dead, 
thou  shalt  be  saved.  For  with  the  heart  man  believeth 
unto  righteousness;  and  with  the  mouth  confession  is 
made  unto  salvation  "  (Rom.  10  :  8-10). 

It  is  true  that  a  true  believer,  who  for  any  reason  is 
prevented  from  confessing  Christ  by  wearing  publicly  his 
sacramental  badge,  may  just  as  efficiently  confess  him  by 
other  significant  words  and  deeds.  And  it  is  further 
true  that  if  a  communicant  is  indeed  a  true  believer  at 
heart,  he  will  constantly  confess  Christ  in  other  ways — 
indeed,  in  all  conceivable  ways — in  all  his  life.  Never- 
theless, a  loyal  citizen  cannot  choose  his  own  flag.  The 
public  and  official  signification  of  loyalty  cannot  be  left 
to  the  accidental  choice  of  individuals.  Above  all,  in  a 
state  of  active  war  no  loyal  soldier  can  for  one  moment 
fail  to  hold  aloft  the  one  battle-flag  which  his  leader  has 
entrusted  to  his  care.  He  covers  it  with  his  body,  he 
shields  it  with  his  life,  he  carries  it  aloft  with  streaming 
eyes  and  heaving  breast  at  the  head  of  the  host.  So  do 
we  with  solemn  joy,  with  reverent  love  and  passion, 


408  THE  LORD'S  SUPPER. 

carry  iu  sacred  pomp  this  sacramental  flag  of  confession 
and  of  challenge  high  in  the  face  of  the  world  which  cru- 
cified our  Lord. 

But  before  we  can  go  any  farther  we  must  answer  this 
question :  Is  Christ  really,  truly,  personally  present  with 
us  in  the  sacrament  ?  Do  we  therein  covenant  and  com- 
mune with  him  in  person,  touch  to  touch,  immediately 
and  really,  or  is  this  only  a  show,  a  symbol  of  something 
absent  and  different  from  what  it  seems  ? 

The  gross  perversions  of  the  Romanists  and  Ritualists, 
who  have  made  it  altogether  a  question  of  the  local  pres- 
ence of  Christ's  flesh  and  blood,  have  occasioned  much 
confusion  of  thought  and  many  prejudices  on  the  subject. 
Nevertheless,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  every  believer  knows 
that  Christ  is  present  in  the  sacrament — that  he  has,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  experienced  his  presence.  If  he  is  not 
present  really  and  truly,  then  the  sacrament  can  have  no 
interest  or  real  value  to  us.  It  does  not  do  to  say  that 
this  presence  is  only  spiritual,  because  that  phrase  is  am- 
biguous. If  it  means  that  the  presence  of  Christ  is  not 
something  objective  to  us,  but  simply  a  mental  apprehen- 
sion or  idea  of  him  subjectively  present  to  our  conscious- 
ness, then  the  phrase  is  false.  Christ  as  an  objective  fact 
is  as  really  present  and  active  in  the  sacrament  as  are 
the  bread  and  wine  or  the  minister  or  our  fellow-commu- 
nicants by  our  side.  If  it  means  that  Christ  is  present 
only  as  he  is  represented  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  it  is  not 
wholly  true,  because  Christ  is  one  Person  and  the  Holy 
Ghost  another,  and  it  is  Christ  who  is  personally  present. 
The  Holy  Ghost  doubtless  is  coactive  in  that  presence 
and  in  all  Christ's  mediatorial  work,  but  this  leads  into 
depths  beyond  our  possible  understanding.     It  does  not 


THE  LORD'S  SUPPER.  409 

do  to  say  that  the  divinity  of  Christ  is  present  while  his 
humanity  is  absent,  because  it  is  the  entire  indivisible 
di vine-human  Person  of  Christ  which  is  present. 

When  Christ  promises  to  his  disciples,  "  Lo,  I  am  with 
you  alway,  even  to  the  end  of  the  world-age,"  and, 
"  Where  two  or  three  are  met  together  in  my  name, 
there  am  I  in  the  midst  of  them,"  he  means  of  course 
that  he,  the  God-man  Mediator  they  loved,  trusted  and 
obeyed,  would  be  with  them.  His  humanity  is  just  as 
essential  as  his  divinity,  otherwise  his  incarnation  would 
not  have  been  a  necessity.  His  sympathy,  his  love,  his 
special  helpful  tenderness,  are  human.  He  is  able  to  be 
our  perfect  High  Priest,  "  being  touched  with  the  feeling 
of  our  infirmities,"  because  he  "  was  in  all  points  tempted 
like  as  we  are,  yet  without  sin  "  (Heb.  4:15). 

But  what  do  we  mean  by  "  presence  "  ?  It  is  a  great 
mistake  to  confuse  the  idea  of  "  presence  "  with  that  of 
nearness  in  space.  This  may  be  a  condition  of  presence 
or  it  may  not,  but  it  is  never  "  presence  "  itself.  If  you 
walk  abroad  at  noonday  in  the  tropics,  the  most  over- 
whelmingly present  thing  to  you  in  the  universe  is  the 
intolerable  sun,  although  it  is  ninety-three  millions  of 
miles  distant.  If  another  person  is  only  one  foot  distant, 
but  separated  from  you  by  a  wall  which  cuts  off  all  light 
and  sound,  he  is  as  absent  as  if  in  the  centre  of  a  distant 
star.  But  if  the  same  person,  a  hundred  feet  from  you  in 
an  audience-room,  sees  you  face  to  face  and  hears  every 
vibration  of  your  voice,  he  is  as  truly  present  as  if  he 
touched  you  at  every  point.  When  Whitefield's  preach- 
ing was  fully  heard  and  its  power  felt  across  the  Dela- 
ware River,  he  was  present  really  and  truly  wherever 
his  voice  was  heard  and  his  matchless   eloquence  felt. 


410  THE  LORD'S  SUPPER. 

"  Presence,"  therefore,  is  not  a  question  of  space :  it  is 
a  relation.  Personal  presence  is  such  a  relation  of  per- 
sons that  they  are  conscious  of  each  other  as  immediate 
objects  of  perception  and  sources  of  influence.  We  know 
nothing  as  to  the  ultimate  nature  of  the  union  of  our 
souls  and  bodies,  yet  we  no  less  are  certain  of  the  fact. 
We  know  nothing  as  to  the  ultimate  nature  of  either 
sight  or  hearing,  whereby  we  make  our  mutual  presence 
felt  in  social  intercourse,  yet  we  are  absolutely  certain 
of  the  facts.  So  we  need  not  speculate  how  it  is  that 
Christ,  the  whole  God-man,  body,  soul  aud  divinity,  is 
present  in  the  sacrament,  but  we  are  absolutely  certain 
of  the  fact.  He  has  promised  it.  We  have  hundreds 
of  times  experienced  it.  We  can  neither  see  his  face  nor 
hear  his  voice  with  our  bodily  senses ;  nevertheless,  when 
we  exercise  faith,  he,  the  whole  Christ,  speaks  to  us,  and 
we  hear  him  ;  we  speak  to  him,  and  he  hears  us;  he  takes 
all  we  give  him,  he  gives  us  and  we  receive  all  of  himself. 
This  is  real,  because  he  is  present.  And  this  is  not  con- 
fined to  the  sacrament.  He  makes  manifest  to  our  faith 
the  reality  of  his  presence  with  us,  and  communicates  the 
same  grace  to  us  on  many  other  occasions.  But  here  and 
now  and  thus  is  his  appointed  rendezvous.  Whatever 
may  be  our  fortune  under  other  conditions  and  at  other 
times,  here  and  now  and  in  this  breaking  of  bread  we 
have  a  personal  appointment  to  meet  our  Lord.  And 
he  never  disappoints  those  who  thus  seek  him  with 
faith  and  love. 

The  Romanists  and  Lutherans  and  Ritualists  have 
confused  this  question  and  greatly  lowered  its  tone  by 
insisting  that  the  real  presence  in  this  sacrament  is  the 
literal  flesh  and  blood  of  Christ,  and  that  the  object  we 


THE  LORD'S  SUPPER.  411 

really  eat  and  drink  when  we  partake  of  it  is  the  same 
literal  flesh  and  blood.  This  view,  as  far  as  it  has  any 
scriptural  foundation  at  all,  rests  on  two  assertions  of 
Christ, 

(1)  In  the  Gospel  of  John  (6  :  53,  54)  he  says,  "  Ex- 
cept ye  eat  the  flesh  of  the  Son  of  man,  and  drink  his 
blood,  ye  have  no  life  in  you.  Whoso  eateth  my  flesh, 
and  drinketh  my  blood,  hath  eternal  life."  Two  great 
mistakes  have  been  made :  (a)  This  language  has  been  in- 
terpreted literally  instead  of  spiritually ;  (6)  it  has  been 
held  to  refer  to  the  Lord's  Supper.  Now,  neither  of 
these  interpretations  is  true.  In  v.  63  Christ  explains 
the  sense  of  the  entire  passage  when  he  says;  "  It  is  the 
spirit  that  quickeneth,  the  flesh  profiteth  nothing ;  the 
words  that  I  speak  unto  you,  they  are  spirit,  and  they 
are  life."  The  literal  interpretation  is  senseless,  useless 
and  revolting.  No  eating  of  any  flesh  can  give  spiritual 
life  or  holiness  to  man.  The  spiritual  sense  is  full  of 
light  and  sweetness.  What  is  present  in  the  sacrament 
is  not  literal  flesh  and  blood  to  be  eaten  and  drunk,  but 
the  whole  divine-human  person  of  our  Lord  to  be  loved, 
worshiped,  communed  with,  covenanted  with,  and  en- 
joyed in  every  form  of  use  and  fellowship.  Eating  and 
drinking  is  not  by  the  mouth  and  digestive  organs  of 
our  bodies,  but  it  is  the  believing  reception  and  self-ap- 
propriation to  our  souls  of  the  spiritual  grace  offered. 
What  we  do  thus  eat  and  drink  is  not  literal  flesh 
and  blood,  but  all  the  sacrificial  benefits  of  Christ's  re- 
demption, all  the  blessings  of  every  kind  he  purchased 
for  us  by  his  sacrifice — -justification,  adoption,  sanctifica- 
tion,  life,  peace,  joy,  victory,  himself  and  the  fullness  of 
his  love  and  grace.    Besides,  this  language  does  not  refer 


412  THE  LORD'S  SUPPER. 

to  the  Lord'  Supper.  The  words  were  spoken  before  the 
Lord's  Supper  was  instituted,  and  no  allusion  is  made  to 
that  Supper  in  the  entire  passage.  Besides,  "  the  eating 
of  the  flesh  "  and  "  the  drinking  of  the  blood  "  spoken 
of  in  that  passage  are  declared  to  be  absolutely  necessary 
to  salvation,  which  no  Christian,  whether  Papist  or  Prot- 
estant, ever  believed  to  be  true  of  the  Lord's  Supper. 

(2)  The  second  assertion  of  Christ  upon  which  this 
revolting  doctrine  is  made  to  rest  is  his  word  of  insti- 
tution :  "  Jesus  took  the  bread,  .  .  .  and  gave  to  his 
disciples,  and  said,  Take,  eat;  this  is  my  body."  Now, 
remember  that  Christ  was  sitting  in  the  actual  flesh  at 
the  table,  eating  and  drinking  the  bread  and  wine  with 
the  rest.  According  to  all  the  laws  of  language  and 
common  sense,  he  could  only  have  meant,  "  This  bread 
represents,  signifies,  my  body."  Thus,  in  Gen.  41  :  26, 
27  it  is  said,  "  The  seven  good  kiue  are  seven  years :  and 
the  seven  good  ears  are  seven  years."  Thus  it  is  said  in 
the  symbolical  language  of  Daniel  (7  :  24),  "And  the  ten 
horns  are  ten  kings ;"  and  in  Rev.  1  :  20,  "  The  seven 
stars  are  the  angels  of  the  seven  churches,  and  the  seven 
candlesticks  are  the  seven  churches."  And  so  we  now 
say,  when  tracing  on  a  map  the  progress  of  an  historic 
battle,  "  These  are  the  British  forces,  and  these  are  the 
Americans,"  or  "  Here  are  the  Federal  forces,  and  here 
those  of  the  Confederates." 

On  such  an  unsubstantial  basis  as  this  has  grown  up 
the  Romish  doctrine  of  transubstantiation,  that  when 
the  priest  pronounces  the  words  of  consecration  the 
whole  substance  of  the  bread  is  changed  into  the  very 
body  of  Christ,  and  the  whole  substance  of  the  wine  is 
changed  into  his  blood,  so  that  only  the  sensible  qualities 


THE  LORD'S  SUPPER.  413 

(appearance,  taste,  smell,  etc.)  of  the  bread  and  wine  re- 
main, and  the  very  substance  of  flesh  and  blood  re- 
main without  their  appropriate  qualities.  This  conver- 
sion of  substance  is  permanent,  so  that  the  flesh  and 
blood  in  the  form  of  the  wafer  and  wine,  as  long  as  they 
are  visible,  are  to  be  kept  and  adored  as  the  very  flesh 
and  blood  of  Christ.  And,  the  blood  being  inseparable 
from  the  flesh,  and  the  human  spirit  inseparable  from 
the  blood,  and  the  divine  Spirit  from  the  human,  who- 
soever either  eats  the  bread  or  any  portion  of  it,  and  he 
who  drinks  the  wine  or  any  portion  of  it,  eats  or  drinks 
the  entire  person  of  the  God-man.  Hence  when  the 
Romanists  withhold  the  cup  from  the  communicant  he 
suffers  nothing,  because,  eating  the  bread,  he  receives  the 
whole  Christ.  Hence  the  minister  is  a  priest,  and  when 
he,  turning  toward  the  altar,  elevates  and  waves  the  Host 
toward  God,  he  offers  a  real  expiatory  sacrifice,  expiating 
the  sins  and  purchasing  gracious  favors  for  the  living  and 
the  dead.  Thus  Romanists  make  the  Mass  a  sacrifice  as 
well  as  a  sacrament.  On  the  same  unsubstantial  ground 
even  the  Lutherans  insist  that  while  the  bread  and  wine 
remain  just  what  they  appear  to  our  senses  to  be,  neverthe- 
less the  literal  flesh  and  blood  of  Christ,  though  invisible, 
are  really  in,  with  and  under  the  bread  and  wine,  and  are 
really  eaten  and  drunk  together  with  them.  And  even 
Calvin  tried  to  mediate  between  the  two  extremes  by 
maintaining  that  though  the  flesh  and  blood  of  Christ 
are  as  to  their  essence  absent  in  the  distant  heavens, 
nevertheless  they  are  dynamically  present  (as,  e.  g.,  the 
sun  throughout  the  sphere  of  its  radiance)  to  the  body  and 
soul  of  the  believing  communicant. 

Discarding  all  such  materialistic  and  mechanical  con- 


414  THE  LORD'S  SUPPER. 

ceptions,  we  maintain  our  unshaken  faith,  not  in  abstract, 
material  flesh  and  blood,  but  in  the  actual  objective, 
effective  presence  with  the  believing  communicant  of  the 
whole  divine-human  Person  of  Christ.  We  are  unable, 
and  we  do  not  care,  to  explain  the  nature  of  the  fact 
scientifically ;  but  we  do  know  that  he  is  as  fully  and  as 
really  with  us  in  the  sacrament  as  the  minister  or  the 
fellow-communicant  sitting  by  our  side.  Face  to  face 
and  heart  to  heart  and  hand  to  hand,  he  recognizes  and 
speaks  to  us,  and  we  recognize  and  speak  to  him ;  and 
when  we  speak  he  hears,  and  when  he  hears  his  whole 
divine-human  heart  responds. 

4th.  Since,  then,  Christ  is  personally  and  immediately 
and  literally  present,  our  communion  with  him  is  direct 
and  real.  The  Greek  words  xoivcuvia,  the  aot  or  state  of 
copartnership,  the  having  all  things  in  common,  and 
fisTOffl,  participation,  are  in  the  New  Testament  indis- 
criminately translated  "  communion  "  and  "  fellowship." 
In  the  one  body  all  the  vital  organs  have  communion. 
The  brain  and  the  heart  and  the  lungs  and  the  stomach 
reciprocally  live  in  and  through  each  other.  Communion 
between  is  copartnership  and  fellowship.  The  most  entire, 
unlimited  and  intimate  of  all  human  communions  is  be- 
tween husband  and  wife  in  a  true  marriage.  The  most 
absolute  and  intimate  of  all  communions  in  the  universe 
is  between  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Ghost  in  the  one  God- 
head. The  most  absolute  and  intimate  communion  be- 
tween God  and  the  creation  is  that  established  through 
the  divine-human  Person  of  Christ  with  his  believing 
people.  This  is  both  symbolized  and  actually  effected 
in  the  Lord's  Supper — symbolized  in  our  eating  bread 
and  drinking  wine,  actually  effected  by  our  immediately 


THE  LORD'S  SUPPER.  415 

receiving  into  our  souls,  through  faith,  the  actually- 
present  Christ,  his  whole  Person  and  all  the  benefits 
his  blood  purchases,  and  by  our  unreservedly  giving  to 
him  and  his  taking  our  whole  selves  as  consecrate  to 
him.  There  is  no  figure  in  the  world  which  expresses 
more  adequately  this  absolute  entire  reception,  appropri- 
ation and  assimilation  of  another  than  that  of  eating  and 
drinking.  We  incorporate  the  whole  Christ  entire  and 
all  his  offices  and  work  into  our  personal  characters  and 
lives.  We  freely  give,  and  Christ  takes,  immediate  pos- 
session of  our  whole  selves,  all  our  potentialities  and 
activities,  for  ever.  Throughout  every  octave  of  our 
spiritual  nature  every  chord  is  attuned  and  brought  into 
exquisite  harmony  in  response  to  the  transcendent  mind 
and  spirit  of  Christ.  Hence  the  Lord's  Supper  is  char- 
acteristically called  the  "  Communion,"  "  for  the  cup  of 
blessing  which  we  bless,  is  it  not  the  communion  (xowcovla, 
copartnership)  of  the  blood  of  Christ  ?  the  bread  which 
we  break,  is  it  not  the  communion  of  the  body  of 
Christ  ?" 

And  if  we  have  communion  with  Christ,  the  common 
Heart  and  Head  of  all,  we  must  have  communion  one 
with  another.  All  at  the  same  table,  all  in  the  same  ec- 
clesiastical fellowship,  all  of  every  name  and  rite  now  liv- 
ing on  the  face  of  the  earth  and  eating  of  one  bread  and 
drinking  of  one  cup,  all  of  all  ages  and  dispensations, 
through  these  sacred  elements  receive  the  universal 
Christ,  both  theirs  and  ours,  and  experience  that  eter- 
nal life,  that  undying  joy,  which  from  the  Head  flows 
to  and  through  all  his  members.  Herein,  on  every 
Communion  Sabbath,  we  visibly  proclaim  our  faith 
and  fellowship  with  the  one  everywhere-present  Christ, 


416  THE  LORD'S  SUPPER. 

and  in  him  with  "the  holy  catholic  Church,  the  com- 
munion of  saints." 

5th.  And,  finally,  this  holy  Supper  is,  in  conformity 
with  its  inner  nature,  called  by  way  of  eminence  "  the 
sacrament."  The  sacr amentum,  in  classical  Latin,  came 
to  mean  specially  the  soldier's  oath.  The  army,  halting 
under  the  shadows  of  the  great  primeval  forests,  gather- 
ed in  its  new  recruits,  and  by  the  terrible  ceremonial  of 
the  soldier's  oath  they  were  bound  to  an  unconditional 
loyalty  to  their  imperial  leader,  who  reigned  from  his 
seat  at  the  head  of  the  host.  A  victim  having  been 
offered  in  sacrifice,  his  blood  was  poured  into  the  hollow 
of  their  convex  shields.  The  new  soldier,  plunging  his 
right  hand  into  this  sacrificial  blood  and  raising  it  to 
Heaven,  swore  by  all  most  sacred  to  be  faithful,  heart 
and  act,  to  his  master  through  life  and  through  death. 
This,  of  course,  implied  a  reciprocal  pledge  of  protection 
and  benefit  from  the  lord  to  his  loyal  follower.  So  Je- 
sus went  in  person  to  the  feast,  and  taking  the  broken 
bread  and  poured  wine,  the  symbols  of  his  crucified  body 
and  shed  blood,  he  swears  to  each  of  us  to  fulfill  for  us 
and  in  us  his  whole  mediatorial  work — to  secure  for  us, 
body  and  soul,  his  complete  salvation  culminating  in  the 
bosom  of  God.  And  we  with  streaming  eyes,  taking  in 
our  hands  and  mouths  the  same  tremendous  symbols, 
swear,  looking  straight  into  the  face  of  our  present  Lord, 
to  keep  back  no  part  of  the  price,  but  to  place  on  the 
altar  of  his  service  all  we  are  and  all  we  possess,  without 
reserve  or  change  for  ever.  Take  the  shoes  from  off 
your  feet  and  step  lightly,  for  the  place  is  most  holy  on 
the  inner  side  of  the  veil.  And  when  you  go  down  and 
out  into  world  again,  remember  that  the  binding  sane- 


TEE  LORD'S  SUPPER.  417 

tion  of  this  great  sacrament  rests  on  you  every  moment 
of  your  lives. 

V.  Our  blessed  Saviour  told  us  when  he  instituted 
this  holy  Supper  just  before  his  death,  "  I  will  not  any 
more  eat  thereof  [of  this  Passover]  until  it  be  fulfilled 
in  the  kingdom  of  God  "  (Luke  22 :  16) ;  and  again, 
"  I  will  not  drink  henceforth  of  this  fruit  of  the  vine, 
until  that  day  when  I  drink  it  new  with  you  in  my 
Father's  kingdom  "  (Matt.  26  :  29). 

[The  MS.  shows  that  the  conclusion  of  this  Lecture 
was  left  unwritten.] 

27 


LECTURE  XVIII. 

THE  STATE  OF  MAN  AFTER  DEATH  AND  THE 
RESURRECTION. 

We  come  now  to  the  fourth  and  last  department  of 
systematic  theology,  usually  designated  by  the  common 
term  Eschatology,  or  the  science  of  last  things.  The  great 
departments  of  Anthropology  and  of  Soteriology  relate 
to  events  and  matters  of  personal  experience  which  have 
come  to  pass.  The  topics  embraced  in  the  department 
of  Eschatology  relate  to  events  and  experiences  yet  future 
to  us.  This  fact,  of  course,  accounts  for  the  comparative 
vagueness  and  absence  of  uniformity  which  characterize 
the  faith  of  the  great  historic  churches  upon  the  several 
points  involved  in  this  department.  The  whole  region 
lies  entirely  beyond  our  experience.  We  can  know  any- 
thing on  these  points  only  as  it  is  definitely  revealed  in  the 
Word  of  God.  And  it  must  ever  be  remembered  that  this 
revealed  Word  was  not  given  us  to  satisfy  our  curiosity  or 
to  afford  us  the  material  for  speculation,  but  simply  to 
afford  us  a  practical  ground  of  faith  and  hope  and  a  guide 
to  the  performance  of  duty.  Beyond  this  information 
thus  afforded  the  Scriptures  will  not  carry  us.  One  of 
the  wisest  reflections  ever  made  on  the  matter  of  biblical 
prophecies  was  that  by  the  great  Sir  Isaac  Newton — viz. 
"  That  prophecy  was  not  given  in  order  to  make  men 
prophets."     And  it  is  just  as  profoundly  true  that  no 

418 


THE  STATE  OF  MAN  AFTER  DEATH,  ETC.    419 

amount  of  study,  no  brilliancy  of  interpretation,  will 
ever  make  the  future  hemisphere  of  Eschatology  as 
clear  to  us  in  this  life  as  we  have  already  found  to  be 
the  departments  of  the  Person  and  work  of  Christ,  of 
the  Spirit's  application  of  the  same,  and  of  our  practical 
duties  on  the  line  of  our  earthly  pilgrimage. 

The  main  essential  points,  such  as  the  fact  that  human 
probation  is  closed  at  death,  the  second  coming  of  Christ, 
the  resurrection  of  all  men,  the  general  judgment,  and 
the  final  award  of  endless  happiness  or  misery,  all  are 
clearly  taught  in  Scripture,  and  all  are  firmly  held  with 
unvarying  consent  in  all  the  creeds  of  the  great  historical 
churches.  Dissentient  opinions  on  these  points  are  in  the 
strict  sense  of  the  word  heresies,  and  have  been  confined 
to  individuals  or  small  and  transient  Church  parties. 

On  the  other  hand,  as  to  all  other  points  involved,  as 
to  the  time  in  which  some  of  the  events  will  occur,  or  as 
to  the  order  in  which  they  will  come  to  pass,  and  as  to 
the  intermediate  state,  Christians,  otherwise  orthodox, 
differ  from  one  another  and  hold  various  views.  Within 
these  limits  we  must  tolerate  difference  and  respect  the 
mental  independence  of  our  brethren.  In  a  few  matters 
of  detail,  not  settled  in  any  way  in  our  Confession  of 
Faith,  I  shall  be  forced  to  differ  from  brethren  whom  I 
hold  in  great  respect  and  affection.  I  do  so  with  reluc- 
tauce  and  with  sincere  deference  to  their  opinions,  and 
only  because  I  am  convinced  that  the  views  I  shall  pre- 
sent are  more  consistent  with  the  statements  and  language 
of  the  Bible,  and  that  they  offer  a  far  stronger  polemic 
position  from  which  to  defend  our  common  faith  than 
that  occupied  by  the  brethren  who  will  most  emphatically 
dissent  from  me. 


420         THE  STATE  OF  MAN  AFTER  DEATH 

I.  The  first  point  explicitly  and  emphatically  stated  in 
Scripture  is  that  human  probation  ends  with  death — that 
the  relation  then  established  between  a  man  and  God  re- 
mains unchanged  for  all  eternity.  Everything  the  Script- 
ures say  on  the  subject  plainly  implies  this  fundamental 
fact,  and  there  is  nothing  in  the  sacred  Book  which,  in 
its  plain  interpretation,  carries  an  opposite  meaning. 
"  Blessed  are  the  dead  which  die  in  the  Lord,  that  they 
may  rest  from  their  labors,  and  their  works  do  follow 
them"  (Rev.  14:  13).  It  is  the  earthly  life,  "the 
things  done  in  the  body,"  which  are  finally  to  determine 
character  and  destiny  at  the  judgment-seat  of  Christ  (2 
Cor.  5  :  10).  Our  blessed  Saviour,  in  the  parable  of  the 
Rich  Man  and  Lazarus,  declares  explicitly  two  capital 
facts  :  1,  that  immediately  upon  death  the  good  man 
goes  to  a  state  of  holiness  and  happiness,  and  the  bad 
man  to  a  place  of  torment ;  and  2,  that  these  states  and 
the  characters  they  imply  are  permanent  and  irreversible. 
Abraham  evidently  voices  the  divine  judgment  when  he 
says  to  the  importunate  subject  of  instant  perdition, 
"  And  besides  all  this,  between  us  and  you  there  is  a 
great  gulf  fixed,  so  that  they  which  would  pass  from 
hence  to  you  cannot,  neither  can  they  pass  to  us,  that 
would  come  from  thence"  (Luke  16:  19-31).  Christ's 
commission  to  his  original  apostles,  which  defines  the 
only  and  the  entire  ground  of  authorized  hope,  reads 
thus,  u  Go  ye  into  all  the  cosmos  and  preach  the  gospel 
to  every  creature.  He  that  believeth  and  is  baptized 
shall  be  saved,  and  he  that  believeth  not  shall  be 
damned ; "  "  And  lo !  I  am  with  you  alway,  even  to 
the  consummation  of  the  age  " — to  the  end  of  this  world, 
period,  or  dispensation  (Mark  16:  15-17;  Matt.  28:  20). 


AND  THE  RESURRECTION.  421 

Thus  the  commission  and  the  offer  of  the  gospel  it  car- 
ries extend  only  to  the  present  age  of  the  gospel  on  the 
earth.  They  who  do  not  believe  here  and  now  in  this 
life  shall  be  damned.  Paul  beseeches  the  Corinthians 
that  they  "  receive  not  the  grace  of  God  in  vain,"  be- 
cause "now  is  the  accepted  time,  now  is  the  day  of  sal-. 
vation"  (2  Cor.  6  : 1,  2).  The  same  lesson  is  enforced 
by  all  our  Lord's  various  parables  of  the  kingdom  of 
heaven,  as,  for  instance,  the  parables  of  the  Ten  Virgins 
ind  of  the  Talents.  The  Lord  comes  to  each  of  us  at 
death.  His  coming  is  always  sudden,  and  the  person 
who  is  found  without  oil  in  his  lamp  is  excluded  from 
the  marriage  supper. 

II.  The  teaching  of  Scripture  upon  the  other  points 
included  in  the  immediate  destiny  of  every  soul  after 
death  is  admirably  summed  up  and  clearly  stated  in  the 
answers  to  the  thirty-seventh  and  thirty-eighth  questions 
of  our  Shorter  Catechism  :  "  The  souls  of  believers  are 
at  their  death  made  perfect  in  holiness,  and  do  immedi- 
ately pass  into  glory ;  and  their  bodies,  being  still  united 
to  Christ,  do  rest  in  their  graves  till  the  resurrection  ;" 
"At  the  resurrection,  believers,  being  raised  up  in  glory, 
shall  be  openly  acknowledged  and  acquitted  in  the  day 
of  judgment,  and  made  perfectly  blessed  in  the  full  en- 
joying of  God  to  all  eternity." 

The  wicked  Dives  was  immediately  upon  death  cast 
into  Hades,  and  "  lifted  up  his  eyes  being  in  torment," 
doubtless  in  the  same  prison-house  wherein,  according  to 
Jude  (sixth  verse),  "the  angels  which  kept  not  their 
first  estate,  but  left  their  own  habitation,  he  (God)  hath 
reserved  in  everlasting  chains  under  darkness  unto  the 
judgment  of  the  great  day." 


422  THE  STATE  OF  MAN  AFTER  DEATH 

III.  All  these  points  are  settled.  Concerning  these 
there  ought  to  be  no  longer  any  debate.  But  it  is  abun- 
dantly evident,  although  constantly  overlooked  by  Chris- 
tians, that  the  Scriptures  settle  nothing  as  to  the  place  or 
location  in  space  of  either  heaven  or  hell.  Unquestion- 
ably, these  terms  must  designate  place  or  definite  location 
in  space,  because  all  created  spirits,  good  or  bad,  can  ex- 
ist only  under  the  limitations  of  space.  But  the  partic- 
ular places  are  defined  neither  absolutely  nor  relatively. 
Whether  these  places  are  far  apart  or  contiguous  in  space ; 
whether  they  each  always  continue  to  occupy  the  same 
portions  of  space,  or  are  occasionally  or  frequently  moved 
from  one  portion  of  space  to  another ;  whether  each  of 
them  occupies  fixed  regions  or  is  carried  about  on  revolv- 
ing spheres  like  the  suns  and  their  planets ;  whether 
relatively  to  us  they  are  up  or  down, — all  these  ques- 
tions are  unanswered  in  Scripture,  and  with  regard  to 
them  all  opinion  is  absurd  and  speculation  vain. 

It  is  true  that  the  Scriptures  characteristically  repre- 
sent the  destination  of  the  good  as  upward  and  that  of 
the  bad  as  downward,  and  in  the  Old  Testament  the  lat- 
ter is  spoken  of  as  under  the  surface  of  the  earth.  But 
it  is  unquestionable  that  this  language  is  purely  meta- 
phorical— that  it  refers  not  to  relation  or  direction  in 
space,  but  to  moral  differences  of  honor,  happiness  and 
the  reverse.  In  this  sense  the  language  is  perfectly  nat- 
ural and  consistent  with  the  general  manner  of  thought 
and  language  characteristic  of  Oriental  people,  and  es- 
pecially of  the  biblical  writers.  But  it  is  plain  that 
when  used  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  inhabitants  of 
a  revolving  and  rotating  globe  like  this  earth,  the  literal 
interpretation  of  this  language  is  absurd. 


AND  THE  RESURRECTION.  423 

To  say,  moreover,  that  heaven  is  where  the  infinite 
and  omnipresent  God  is,  is  evidently  to  contribute  no 
definite  information  with  regard  to  its  locality,  since 
essentially  he  is  just  as  much  in  hell  as  in  heaven. 
The  New  Testament  beautifully  settles  this  question  to 
the  perfect  satisfaction  of  every  Christian  heart :  "  To 
be  absent  from  the  body  is  to  be  at  home  with  the 
Lord  "  (2  Cor.  5  :  8,  Revised  Version).  Heaven,  as  a 
place,  is  defined  to  be  where  the  incarnate  God-man 
is. 

IV.  But  this  at  once  demonstrates  the  fact  that  the 
condition  of  Old  Testament  saiuts  before  Christ's  death 
was  in  some  essential  respects  different  from  that  which 
all  the  redeemed  dead  share  together  since  his  death  and 
ascension.  To  us  and  to  all  the  redeemed  the  essence  of 
heaven  is  to  be  with  Christ,  to  be  where  he  is.  The 
vision  of  God  in  the  incarnate  Word,  the  intimate  fel- 
lowship with  the  risen  and  glorified  God-man,  our 
merciful  High  Priest,  is  the  very  essence  of  the  bless- 
edness we  seek.  Now,  whatever  else  may  have  been 
true  of  the  place,  the  state  or  the  blessedness  of  the 
redeemed  dead  in  Old  Testament  times,  they  could 
not  have  enjoyed  this  crowning  grace.  As  the  Old  Tes- 
tament believer,  in  the  use  of  the  ceremonial  system  of 
symbolic  worship,  looked  forward  trustingly  and  long- 
ingly to  a  Christ  to  come  hereafter  as  the  goal  of  his 
desire,  as  we  New  Testament  believers  look  forward 
with  trust  and  joy,  and  longingly  hasten  unto  the  sec- 
ond coming  of  our  Lord,  so  must  the  happy,  holy  re- 
deemed dead  in  the  Old  Testament  age  have  looked  for- 
ward trustingly,  longingly  to  the  fulfillment  of  all  their 
desires,  the  goal  of  all  their  hopes,  to  the  coming  and 


424  THE  STATE  OF  MAN  AFTER  DEATH 

dwelling  among  them  for  ever  of  their  incarnate  Lord 
in  his  sacrificed  body,  beautified  and  glorified. 

Therefore,  it  follows  that  when  on  the  evening  of 
Friday  the  soul  of  the  then  dead  Christ,  personally 
united  for  ever  to  his  divinity,  entered  paradise,  he 
must  have  irradiated  it  with  a  sudden  light  never  seen 
there  nor  in  all  the  universe  of  God  before.  That  one 
moment  consummated  heaven  and  revolutionized  the 
condition  of  the  redeemed  for  ever.  How  much  more 
then,  when  some  forty  days  afterward,  in  his  completed 
person,  his  risen  and  glorified  body  united  to  his  glori- 
ous soul  and  Godhead,  he  ascended  and  sat  down  on  the 
right  hand  of  the  Majesty  on  high,  must  the  seats  of 
bliss  have  been  transformed  and  glorified  for  ever,  and 
made  the  central  temple  and  cosmopolitan  eye  and  crown 
of  the  universe !  "  For  the  Lamb  is  "  now  henceforth 
"the  light  thereof." 

V.  It  is  also  very  plainly  the  teaching  of  the  Word 
of  God  in  both  Testaments  that  the  condition  into 
which  the  souls  of  men,  either  good  or  bad,  depart 
immediately  after  death,  although  fixed  and  irreversi- 
ble in  its  general  character,  is  nevertheless  intermediate 
and  not  ultimate  in  the  character  or  degree  either  of  the 
misery  on  the  one  hand  or  of  the  blessedness  on  the 
other. 

1.  In  the  first  place :  although  the  souls  of  believers 
immediately  after  death  are  made  perfect  in  holiness  and 
pass  into  a  state  properly  called  glorious,  nevertheless 
the  intermediate  state  is  a  condition  of  death.  The 
spirits  of  men,  while  their  bodies  remain  in  the  graves, 
are  ghosts  or  disembodied  souls.  The  condition  of  even 
the  redeemed  dead,  although  completely  delivered  from 


AND  THE  RESURRECTION.  425 

sin  and  at  home  with  the  Lord,  is  one  in  which  they 
are  not  yet  completely  delivered  from  all  the  conse- 
quences of  sin.  They  look  forward  to  the  resurrection 
of  their  bodies  and  to  the  consummation  of  their  salva- 
tion consequent  upon  the  second  advent  of  Christ  on 
earth  and  its  immediate  consequents,  just  as  the  Church 
on  earth  does.  Christ,  although  his  soul  was  in  para- 
dise, continued  "  until  the  third  day  under  the  power  of 
death."  The  same  is  true  of  Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob, 
and  of  all  the  dead  until  the  morning  of  the  resurrec- 
tion. The  Bible  always  speaks  of  the  "  resurrection  of  the 
dead  j"  therefore  they  are  called  "  dead,"  although  their 
souls  are  in  heaven  before  the  resurrection.  The  Script- 
ures characteristically  point  the  faith  and  hope  of  be- 
lievers forward  not  to  the  hour  of  death,  but  to  that  of 
the  resurrection,  as  the  crisis  of  our  complete  redemption. 
The  day  of  resurrection  is  called  "  the  day  of  redemp- 
tion "  (Eph.  4  :  30).  Paul  (Phil.  3:11)  declares  it  to 
be  his  great  object  of  desire  and  of  effort  "  if  by  any 
means  I  may  attain  unto  the  resurrection  of  the  dead." 
The  hope  of  the  gospel,  as  Paul  and  all  the  apostles 
preached  it,  was  the  hope  of  the  resurrection  of  the 
dead.  When  the  hour  comes,  it  is  the  dead  in  Christ, 
still  dead,  who  are  to  rise  first  (Acts  23  :  6 ;  1  Thess. 
4  :  16). 

2.  Spiritual  death  is  not  here  in  question.  As  far  as 
unbelievers  are  concerned,  they  continue  spiritually  dead 
from  their  birth  through  all  eternity.  As  far  as  the  be- 
liever is  concerned,  he  is  spiritually  alive  from  the  mo- 
ment of  his  regeneration  (John  6  :  54).  But  death,  in  its 
common  sense,  is  precisely  defined  as  the  suspension  of 
the  personal  union  of  soul  and  body.     It  continues  pre- 


426  THE  STATE  OF  MAN  AFTER  DEATH 

cisely  as  long  as  this  union  is  suspended.  It  ends  the 
instant  this  union  is  re-established  by  the  resurrection. 
The  human  soul  is  essentially  constituted  for  this  per- 
sonal union  with  a  material  body.  This  union  condi- 
tions all  its  sensibilities  and  all  its  activities.  When  ab- 
sent from  the  body  the  personality  is  incomplete;  the 
ghost-life,  however  happy,  must  be  intermediate  and 
provisional.  It  is  only  in  the  reconstructed  personality 
consequent  upon  the  resurrection  of  the  body,  and  its 
glorification  in  the  likeness  of  Christ,  that  the  person  is 
ready  for  final  judgment  or  for  the  consummation  of  sal- 
vation. 

This  view  certainly  does  not  depreciate  the  state  of  the 
disembodied  dead  with  Christ  in  heaven  during  the  pres- 
ent age.  It  is  perfectly  true  that  the  believer  at  death 
"  is  made  perfect  in  holiness,  and  does  immediately  pass 
into  glory."  But  that  is  not  final.  There  is  something 
incomparably  higher  and  more  complete  to  look  forward 
to — when  all  the  redeemed  shall  pass  for  ever  from  under 
the  power  of  death,  and  each  entire  person,  instinct  witli 
life  and  glorified,  shall  be  completely  conformed  to  the 
likeness  of  his  Lord  and  adjusted  to  his  environment  in 
the  new  heavens  and  the  new  earth. 

VI.  In  connection  with  this  we  are  brought  to  the 
question  as  to  the  true  meaning  of  the  Hebrew  and 
Greek  words  Sheol  and  Hades,  in  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments.  This  question  is  rather  of  exegesis  and  of 
biblical  theology  than  of  positive  doctrine.  We  hold, 
as  has  been  shown,  precisely  what  our  Catechism  and 
Confession  of  Faith  teach  as  to  what  becomes  of  the 
souls  and  bodies  of  men  immediately  after  death.  Nev- 
ertheless, the  revelation  of  truth,  communicated  by  God 


AND  THE  RESURRECTION.  427 

to  the  fathers  and  recorded  in  the  Scriptures,  has  been  a 
gradual  one,  and  it  is  of  importance  for  us  to  know  not 
only  what  the  truth  finally  revealed  is,  but  also  to  trace 
the  history  of  its  gradual  communication  through  past 
dispensations.  It  is  only  in  this  way  that  we  can  rightly 
interpret  the  Scriptures  in  their  true  historic  sense.  And, 
above  all,  it  is  only  in  this  way  that  we  can  maintain  the 
true  historic  ground  of  our  faith  in  controversy  against 
all  who  deny  its  truth. 

It  is  true  that  the  Scriptures  must  be  interpreted  ac- 
cording to  the  analogy  of  the  faith,  and  that  the  general 
design  and  fixed  principles  of  the  whole  must  guide  us 
in  the  interpretation  of  the  parts.  Nevertheless,  the 
dogmatic  method  of  interpretation,  whereby  it  is  insisted 
that  the  fullest  development  of  doctrine  gathered  in  the 
apostolic  writings  shall  be  found  in  the  earliest  writings 
of  the  Old  Testament,  may  be  carried  very  much  too 
far,  and  be  a  great  occasion  of  weakness  when  assaulted 
by  the  enemies  of  truth.  The  question  is  not  how  we 
do  now  conceive  of  heaven  and  hell,  but  what  did  the 
sacred  writers  mean  by  Sheol  and  Hades. 

The  English  word  "  hell "  is  of  Saxon  origin,  and 
originally  meant  "  a  concealed  place,"  and  hence  either 
the  "  grave,"  where  the  body  goes  at  death,  or  the  "  in- 
visible world,"  "  the  spirit-world,"  where  the  soul  goes. 
But  it  has  come  now  to  have  the  fixed  sense  of  "  the 
place  of  perdition,"  where  the  devil,  his  angels  and  the 
lost  souls  of  men  are  in  torment.  This  last  sense  is  so 
general  and  so  firmly  established  that  no  attempt  should 
be  made  to  alter  or  confuse  it.  We  use,  therefore,  the 
term  "hell"  for  the  place  of  the  punishment  of  lost 
souls.     Many  scholars  have  held  that  the  words  Sheol 


, 


428  THE  STATE  OF  MAN  AFTER  DEATH 

and  Hades,  in  the  original  Scriptures,  sometimes  mean 
"  hell "  and  sometimes  "  the  grave."  I  believe  that 
modern  Hebrew  and  Greek  scholars,  free  from  mere 
traditional  trammels,  unite  with  almost  absolute  unanim- 
ity in  maintaining  that  these  words  never  on  a  single  oc- 
casion in  the  Bible  mean  either  "  hell "  or  "  the  grave," 
but  always  and  only  the  invisible  spirit-world,  in  which 
the  disembodied  souls  of  men,  whether  good  or  bad, 
abide  after  death  and  before  the  resurrection,  while  they 
remain  under  the  power  of  death  for  a  season.  This 
view  is  certainly  consistent  and  uniform.  It  permits  a 
simple  and  natural  exegesis  of  all  the  passages  in  which 
the  words  in  question  occur,  aud  it  does  not  in  the  least 
modify  or  weaken  the  dogmatic  positions  assumed  in  our 
Confession. 

The  word  "  heaven  "  often  occurs  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, but  is  never  used  to  express  the  place  or  condition 
into  which  believers  are  introduced  at  death.  The  single 
exception  (2  Kings  2  : 1)  proves  the  rule,  because  Elijah, 
of  whom  alone  it  was  said  that  he  went  to  heaven,  was 
translated  in  his  body,  and  did  not  die  at  all.  The  word 
"  heaven "  always  designates  in  the  Old  Testament  the 
dwelling-place  of  God.  Heaven  is  his  throne,  while  the 
earth  is  his  footstool.  He  is  always  represented  as  reign- 
ing, looking,  hearing,  answering,  acting,  coming  from 
heaven.  But  on  the  contrary,  all  men, "good  and  bad 
alike,  go  when  they  die  to  Sheol  (Dr.  C.  Hodge's  Sys- 
tematic Theol.,  Part  4,  chap.  i.  section  1). 

Sheol  occurs  sixty-five  times  in  the  Old  Testament, 
and,  with  two  or  three  exceptions,  is  represented  in  the 
Septuagint  by  the  Greek  equivalent  Hade*.  Hades 
occurs  also  eleven   times  in   the  New  Testament,   and 


AND  THE  RESURRECTION.  429 

throughout  both  Testaments  the  two  words  have  one 
single,  plain,  uniform  meaning.  They  mean  the  spirit- 
or  ghost-world,  in  which  the  disembodied  spirits  of  all 
men  are  gathered  before  the  resurrection  while  they  re- 
main under  the  power  of  death.  It  is  part  of  the  realm 
of  death.  Residence  in  it,  like  death,  is  part  of  the  con- 
sequence of  sin.  Irrespective  of  the  atonement  of  Christ, 
its  condition  would  be  purely  penal  and  hopeless.  But 
in  view  of  that  atonement  Sheol  or  Hades  was  to  all  true 
believers  the  vestibule  of  heaven.  The  fact  that  all  men, 
good  and  bad  were  represented  as  going  to  Hades  or  Sheol 
of  course  did  not  imply  that  they  all  went  to  the  same 
place  or  to  the  same  or  to  a  like  condition,  any  more  than 
it  does  now  when  it  is  said  that  all  men  go  down  to  the 
grave  or  to  death,  or  than  it  is  when  it  is  affirmed  of 
different  emigrants  from  Europe  that  they  are  going 
to  America.  All  went  to  Sheol  or  Hades — that  is,  all, 
good  and  bad  alike,  went  out  as  disembodied  spirits  into 
the  ghost-world,  precisely  as  all,  good  and  bad  alike,  died, 
though  death  is  the  penalty  of  sin.  And  all  alike  con- 
tinued under  the  power  of  death  in  the  disembodied  state 
until  the  resurrection.  But  the  good  were  rendered  per- 
fect in  holiness,  and  taken  to  seats  of  bliss  called  "  para- 
dise" or  "Abraham's  bosom,"  while  the  wicked,  aban- 
doned by  the  spirit  of  grace  and  sealed  until  the  day  of 
perdition,  went  to  Gehenna,  a  place  of  torment.  And 
between  these  two  there  was  a  great  and  utterly  impass- 
able gulf  fixed. 

It  naturally  follows  that  Sheol,  Hades  and  death  are 
generally  spoken  of  in  the  Old  Testament  as  dark  and 
dread-inspiring,  as  the  consequence  of  sin.  The  fullness 
and  completion  of  salvation  had  not  then  been  brought 


430         THE  STATE  OF  MAN  AFTER  DEATH 

fully  to  light.  Even  believers,  while  anticipating  salva- 
tion with  calm  faith,  yet  shrank  from  death  ami  their 
continuance  in  Sheol  or  Hades,  and  looked  forward  with 
longing  to  the  completion  of  salvation  in  the  resurrec- 
tion, which  was  the  ultimate  goal  of  their  hope.  The 
Psalmist  exultantly  affirms,  "  Thou  wilt  not  leave  my 
soul  in  Hades"  (Ps.  16:  10).  Thus  Peter,  filled  with 
the  Holy  Ghost,  declares  that  the  patriarch  David  spoke 
of  the  resurrection  of  Christ,  God  having  promised  that 
he  would  "  not  leave  his  soul  in  Hades."  Thus  Martha, 
the  weeping  sister  of  Lazarus,  confessed  at  his  grave  the 
common  faith  and  hope  of  a  believing  Jew :  "  I  know 
that  he  shall  rise  again  at  the  resurrection  of  the  last 
day."  And  thus  in  the  resurrection,  when  the  salvatioD 
of  the  redeemed  and  the  condemnation  of  the  lost  are 
finally  consummated,  it  is  foretold  in  Revelation  20  : 
13-15,  "The  sea  gave  up  the  dead  which  were  in  it;  and 
death  and  Hades  delivered  up  the  dead  which  were  in 
them.  .  .  .  And  death  and  Hades  were  cast  into  the 
lake  of  fire."  Then  the  lost  will  suffer  the  second  death. 
Then  the  redeemed,  complete  in  soul  and  body,  and  in 
both  bearing  the  glorious  image  of  Christ,  shall  be  de- 
livered from  all  the  power  and  influence  of  death  for 
evermore. 

VII.  This  explains  perfectly  the  much-disputed  phrase 
in  the  most  ancient  and  universal  creed  of  the  Christian 
Church,  wherein  it  is  asserted  of  Christ,  "  He  was  cruci- 
fied, dead  and  buried  ;  he  descended  into  hell."  In  the 
original  it  stands,  "  He  descended  into  Hades ;"  and 
since  the  changed  sense  acquired  by  the  English  word 
"  hell,"  the  original  and  accurately-correct  and  biblical 
word  "  Hades  "  should  be  restored.      This  creed,  as  it 


AND  THE  RESURRECTION.  431 

stands,  is  a  part  of  the  binding  standards  of  our  Church, 
to  which  every  minister  and  elder  solemnly  subscribes, 
and  it  is,  after  the  Scriptures,  the  most  ancient,  venerable 
aud  generally  recognized  of  all  the  historic  literary  mon- 
uments of  the  Christian  Church.  It  seems  to  me  a 
dreadful  violation  of  the  bonds  which  connect  us  with 
the  history  of  Christian  faith  and  life,  and  of  the  com- 
mon ties  which  still  connect  the  divided  segments  of 
"  the  body  of  Christ,"  for  any  one  branch  of  that  Church 
to  agitate  for  the  mutilation  of  the  venerable  creed 
which  belongs  to  the  whole  brotherhood  and  to  all  the 
sacred  past  as  well.  This  is  rendered  the  more  clear 
and  forcible  by  the  obvious  fact  that  the  natural  and 
most  generally  accredited  meaning  of  the  clause  objected 
to  is  perfectly  true,  and  that  it  can  have  no  objectionable 
doctrinal  implications.  The  true  meauing  is  that  given 
it  in  our  Confession  of  Faith — i.  e.  "  continuing  in  the 
state  of  the  dead,  and  under  the  power  of  death,  until 
the  third  day."  That  is  precisely  what  going  into  Hades, 
the  world  of  the  disembodied  spirits  of  dead  men  awaiting 
their  resurrection,  means.  The  soul  of  Christ,  personally 
united  to  his  divinity,  went,  the  moment  he  gave  up  the 
ghost,  to  the  very  same  place  and  condition  as  that  to 
which  the  souls  of  all  redeemed  men  from  the  beginning 
had  gone.  But  on  the  first  day  of  the  week  Christ 
arose,  and  thus  became  the  first-fruits  of  them  that  slept, 
and  afterward  ascended,  carrying  captivity  captive  (1  Cor. 
15:  20;  Eph.  4:  8). 

VIII.  Man  consists  of  soul  and  body.  The  entire 
person,  reintegrated  by  resurrection  after  death,  is  the 
ouly  possible  subject  of  complete  and  final  judgment — 
the  only  possible  subject  upon  which  complete  and  final 


432         THE  STATE  OF  MAN  AFTER  DEATH 

punishment  can  be  inflicted,  or  to  which  complete  and 
final  rewards  can  be  granted.  Unless  man  is  judged, 
acquitted  and  acknowledged  in  the  body,  and  in  the  body 
made  perfectly  blessed  in  the  full  enjoying  of  Christ 
to  all  eternity,  the  whole  and  complete  historical  per- 
son is  not  justified  or  saved.  Unless  the  sinful  man  is 
judged,  condemned  and  damned  in  the  body,  the  whole 
and  complete  historical  person  of  the  sinner  is  not  dealt 
with  according  to  law  and  justice,  and  the  supreme  holi- 
ness, truth  and  justice  of  God  are  not  fully  shown  forth. 
Resurrection  is  equally  necessary  in  the  case  of  the  finally 
saved  and  of  the  finally  lost,  and  for  the  same  reason ; 
that  is,  in  order  to  complete  the  full  personality,  as  a  sub- 
ject of  judgment,  and  hence  of  reward  or  of  punishment. 

It  hence  follows  that  the  resurrection  of  the  redeemed 
is  (1)  the  consummation  of  their  personal  salvation  ;  (2) 
therefore,  in  their  case,  gracious,  for  Christ's  sake,  a  con- 
sequence of  Christ's  resurrection.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  resurrection  of  the  reprobate  is  (1)  the  necessary  an- 
tecedent to  their  final  judgment  and  endless  perdition; 
(2)  and  hence,  in  their  case,  judicial  and  punitive.  It 
seems  very  clear  that  it  is  not  logical  to  reason  from  the 
fact  that  Christ's  true  people  are  everywhere  encouraged 
to  look  forward  to  the  "resurrection  of  life"  as  the 
crowning  of  their  redemption,  that  therefore  the  "  res- 
urrection of  damnation  "  must  be  redemptive  also  (John 
5  :  29).  The  latter  is  to  lead  "  to  everlasting  punish- 
ment," but  the  other  "  to  life  eternal "  (Matt.  25  :  46). 

IX.  The  ground  of  the  resurrection  of  the  reprobate 
will  be  judgment — the  demands  of  the  perfect  law 
which  they  have  broken.  As  to  the  nature  of  their 
resurrection  bodies  we  have  no  revelation. 


AND  THE  RESURRECTION.  433 

The  ground  of  the  resurrection  of  the  saints  is  the 
already  accomplished  resurrection  of  Christ,  the  "  first- 
fruits  of  them  that  slept."  "We  are  to  rise  because  he  rose. 
We  are  to  rise  as  certainly  as  he  rose.  And  we  are  to 
be  like  him  when  we  awake,  because  "  he  will  change 
our  vile  body,  that  it  may  be  fashioned  like  unto  his 
glorious  body,  according  to  the  working  whereby  he  is 
able  to  subdue  all  things  unto  himself"  (Phil.  3  :  21). 

1.  The  same  bodies  are  to  rise  again  which  are  depos- 
ited in  the  grave.  This  is  expressly  asserted  in  every 
way :  "  It  is  sown  in  weakness,  it  is  raised  in  power ; 
it  is  sown  in  corruption,  it  is  raised  in  incorruption." 
We  are  to  rise  in  the  same  sense  that  Christ  rose.  But 
his  identical  body  rose  again  and  was  identified.  Our 
"  vile  bodies  are  to  be  made  like  unto  Christ's  glorious 
body."  We  know  not  what  the  essential  principles  of 
bodily  identity  are,  but  we  know,  certainly,  that  we 
have  identically  the  same  bodies  from  the  cradle  to  the 
grave,  although  the  material  constituents  of  these  bodies 
are  continually  changing.  It  is  enough  for  us  to  be 
absolutely  sure  that  the  bodies  we  shall  rise  with  at  the 
resurrection  will  be  in  the  same  sense  identical  with  the 
bodies  we  lay  aside  at  death,  as  the  bodies  we  lay  aside 
at  death  are  identical  with  the  bodies  with  which  we 
were  born. 

2.  But  our  bodies,  although  identical,  will  be  changed, 
modified  (not  exchanged),  so  that  they  will  then  be  per- 
fectly adapted  (a)  to  the  instincts  and  faculties  of  our 
glorified  souls,  and  (b)  to  the  physical  conditions  of  the 
new  heavens  and  new  earth  wherein  dwelleth  righteous- 
ness. 

The  body  of  Christ  is  now  material,  as  Thomas  proved 

28 


434         THE  STATE  OF  MAN  AFTER  DEATH 

when  he  thrust  his  fingers  into  the  print  of  the  nails, 
and  as  Christ  asserted  when  he  said,  after  his  resurrec- 
tion, "  A  spirit  hath  not  flesh  and  bones  as  ye  see  me 
have  "  (Luke  24  :  36-40).  If  so,  it  must  have  a  mate- 
rial home  to  live  in.  Hence  the  material  universe,  in 
some  form,  will  be  as  everlasting  as  the  spiritual  world. 
Therefore  our  bodies  will  be  material  like  his. 

The  essential  definition  of  a  body  is  "  a  material  or- 
ganism personally  united  to  a  soul,  to  be  the  organ  of 
that  soul  in  perception,  in  volition  and  in  expression." 
Every  body  as  an  organism,  therefore,  must  be  con- 
structed of  matter,  and  must  be  adjusted  in  every  case 
to  the  appetites,  instincts  and  passions  of  the  soul  to 
which  it  is  united,  and  to  the  physical  conditions  of  the 
environment  in  which  it  exists.  It  is  plain  that  the  soul 
of  a  sheep  never  could  exist  in  the  body  of  a  lion,  nor 
the  soul  of  a  lion  in  the  body  of  a  sheep.  It  is  just  as 
plain  that  if  a  body  is  to  inhabit  any  element,  it  must 
be  physically  adjusted  to  its  conditions.  Thus,  if  it  is 
to  inhabit  the  water  it  must  have  the  body  of  a  fish,  or 
if  it  is  to  inhabit  the  air  the  body  of  a  bird.  So  our 
new  bodies  must  be  transformed  into  complete  adjust- 
ment to  the  glorified  spirit  and  to  the  glorified  world  it 
is  to  inhabit  and  in  which  it  is  to  act. 

In  this  life  our  body  is  called  "  animal,"  jjsuchikon 
(1  Cor.  15  :  44).  In  the  new  life  it  will  be  what  the 
New  Testament  calls  "spiritual,"  pneumatihon.  The 
established  meaning  of  that  phrase  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment is,  that  which  has  been  made  the  temple  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  and  which  consequently  has  been  trans- 
formed by  his  indwelling  (1  Cor.  2  :  12-15).  The 
"  spiritual  body  "  will  therefore  be  our  very  same  ma- 


AND  THE  RESURRECTION.  435 

terial  body,  modified  by  the  indwelling  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  so  as  to  be  no  longer  "  animal/'  but  rather  so  as 
to  be  a  fit  temple  for  the  divine  Guest  and  a  fit  organ 
for  the  perfectly  sanctified  and  spiritualized  soul. 

3.  Our  bodies  will  be  rendered  perfect  as  the  organs 
of  our  souls  in  perception.  Here  we  possess  but  five 
bodily  senses,  and  hence  come  into  contact  with  the 
material  world  only  on  five  sides.  We  can  take  knowl- 
edge only  of  its  tangible,  visible,  audible  and  odorifer- 
ous properties.  Beyond  doubt,  the  world,  even  as  at 
present  constituted,  possesses  far  different  properties  and 
presents  other  aspects,  perhaps  far  deeper,  grander, 
larger,  than  any  now  open  to  us.  At  present  our  ex- 
isting senses  are  feeble  and  of  narrow  range,  and  we 
need  to  increase  their  powers  by  the  use  of  instruments, 
such  as  the  microscope,  the  telescope  and  the  spectro- 
scope, whereby  new  spheres  are  opened  to  us. 

For  illustration,  imagine  the  case  of  Laura  Bridgman, 
born  without  the  sense  either  of  sight  or  hearing,  and 
of  course  utterly  unable  to  conceive  the  use  or  the 
essence  of  either  experience.  Suppose  that  her  teacher, 
endowed  with  supernatural  power,  should  have  placed 
her  some  day  of  the  year,  in  the  spring  days  of  her  life, 
on  some  central  tower  in  the  harbor  of  Boston.  At 
first  she  would  stand  in  absolute  isolation,  teeming  with 
force  and  life  and  mind,  touching  the  world  only  through 
the  soles  of  her  feet  and  the  zephyr  which  fanned  her 
cheek,  yet  enveloped  in  darkness  and  silence  infinite, 
alone  and  apart  as  really  as  if  sunk  in  the  abysses  of 
night  beyond  the  orbit  of  the  nethermost  sun.  Suppose 
then  her  teacher  should  touch  her  and  say,  "Daughter, 
hear  !"  and  at  once  there  should  flow  into  her  open  soul 


■436  THE  STATE  OF  MAN  AFTER  DEATH 

all  the  myriad  voices  of  the  globe.  Suppose,  again,  the 
teacher  should  touch  her  aud  say,  "  Daughter,  see  !"  aud 
suddenly  that  hitherto  isolated  soul  should  pass  out  in 
one  instant  into  the  infinite  world  and  take  into  her 
irradiated  consciousness  all  the  visions  of  the  sea  and 
earth  under  the  stupendous  sky.  Without  moving  her- 
self or  any  change  of  environment,  the  mere  opening  of 
ear  and  eye  would  widen  her  horizon  infinitely  and  bring 
her  face  to  face  with  a  thousand  worlds,  all  new. 

Some  such  experience  will  be  yours  and  mine  when  we 
are  clothed  upon  by  our  glorified  bodies  on  the  morning 
of  the  resurrection.  Comiug  up  from  rural  or  urban 
graveyards,  rising  before  the  awful  whiteness  of  the 
throne  and  the  intolerable  glory  of  Him  that  sits  there- 
on, and  passing  through  the  interminable  ranks  of  flam- 
ing seraphs  and  diademed  archangels,  the  perfect  senses 
of  our  new  bodies  will  bring  us  at  once  into  the  presence 
of  the  whole  universe,  of  the  music  of  all  its  spheres  and 
of  the  effulgence  of  all  its  suns ;  of  the  most  secret  work- 
ing of  all  its  forces,  and  of  the  recorded  history  of  all 
its  past. 

4.  Our  new  bodies  will  be  no  less  perfect  as  the  organs 
of  our  souls  in  volition.  At  present  our  volitions  have 
direct  control  only  of  a  few  voluntary  muscles  and  of 
the  course  of  our  thoughts.  Besides  this,  our  physical 
energies  need  constant  reinforcement  from  nutrition  and 
sleep,  and  are  rapidly  exhausted  by  fatigue,  and  in  a  few 
years  entirely  decay.  Man  in  this  world  could  not  stand 
the  competition  of  any  but  the  weakest  of  the  lower  ani- 
mals if  it  were  not  for  his  superiority  of  intellect  and 
for  the  characteristic  fact  that  he  alone  -is  a  tool-making 
and  tool-using  animal.     It  is  by  machinery  to  which  he 


AND  THE  RESURRECTION.  437 

harnesses  all  the  forces  of  material  nature  that  man 
maintains  his  lordship  of  the  world. 

But  completely  redeemed  humanity  is  symbolically  rep- 
resented in  the  ancient  ritual  by  the  cherubim  which  sur- 
rounded the  ark  of  the  covenant,  the  throne  of  Jehovah 
over  the  mercy-seat,  and  which  were  inwrought  in  all  the 
walls  and  curtains  of  the  tabernacle  and  temple.  This 
composite  symbol  consisted  of  the  ox,  the  lion,  the  eagle 
and  the  man.  Here  were  symbolically  gathered  into  one 
focus,  and  set  forth  as  the  attributes  of  every  redeemed 
man,  all  the  energies  now  distributed  through  all  the 
provinces  of  the  animal  world.  The  ox  represents  brute 
strength,  the  power  that  cultivates  and  renders  fruitful 
the  earth  and  that  bears  the  burdens  of  mankind.  The 
lion  is  the  king  of  beasts,  at  whose  voice  and  tread  all 
the  denizens  of  the  forest  tremble.  The  eagle  is  the 
king  of  birds,  who  soars  upward  to  the  seats  of  the  sun, 
and  who  sleeps  in  perfect  equilibrium  upon  his  inex- 
haustible wing.  Man  is  the  sovereign  intelligence,  who 
gathers  all  the  energies  of  the  physical  world  and  sways 
them  to  his  use. 

Taken  together,  they  constitute  the  type  or  prophetic 
symbol  of  our  resurrection  bodies.  There  will  be  there 
no  need  of  grosser  nutriment  and  no  need  of  sleep.  Our 
energies  will  not  flag  with  fatigue,  nor  will  they  be  ex- 
hausted with  age.  Our  wills  will  not  be  confined  to  in- 
direct and  difficult  action  through  cumbrous  machinery, 
but  the  whole  soul  will  act  directly  upon  every  subser- 
vient force.  Without  inertia  or  friction  our  purposes  Mall 
be  spontaneously  executed  by  inexhaustible  energies,  to 
which  all  exercise  will  be  pleasure,  and  continuous  activ- 
ity the  unshadowed  rapture  of  an  immortal  life. 


438     THE  STATE  OF  MAN  AFTER  DEATH,  ETC. 

5.  Our  new  bodies,  finally,  will  be  perfect  as  the  organs 
of  our  souls  in  expression.  The  expression  of  mental 
characteristics  and  states  is  a  great  mystery.  Yet  we  are 
absolutely  dependent  upon  it  for  all  of  our  knowledge 
of,  and  for  all  our  communion  with,  each  other.  In 
some  exceptional  cases  the  power  of  expression  acquired 
by  some  souls  through  their  bodies  opens  to  us  a  graud 
conception  of  what  in  the  resurrection  may  become  the 
common  property  of  all  saints.  We  have  all  of  us  ex- 
perienced something  of  the  magic  power  wielded  by  the 
great  masters  of  the  art  of  expression,  the  poets,  paint- 
ers, singers  and  orators  of  all  time.  Yet  even  in  these 
the  present  body  of  flesh  is  only  a  coarse  and  opaque 
medium  for  the  spirit's  light.  I  have  no  doubt  that  the 
resurrection  bodies  of  the  saints  will  be  of  more  than 
crystal  translucency,  through  which  each  glorified  soul 
will  dart  his  rays  through  myriad  facets.  The  recogni- 
tion of  friends,  then,  will  not  be  the  recognition  of  souls 
through  the  remembered  features  of  the  body,  but  rather 
the  recognition  of  persons  through  irradiating  character- 
istics of  their  souls.  When  we  rise  on  that  great  Easter 
morning,  and  our  new  senses  sweep  the  historic  genera- 
tions of  the  redeemed,  we  will  know  the  great  masters 
of  thought  and  song,  and  the  great  leaders  of  the  sacra- 
mental hosts  in  instant  glances,  from  our  long  knowledge 
of  their  thoughts  and  deeds.  And  when,  in  the  centre 
of  the  hosts,  we  meet  the  Object  to  which  all  thoughts 
and  hearts  converge,  there  will  be  no  need  of  introduc- 
tion between  the  glorified  Lord  and  his  glorified  servant, 
however  humble  he  may  be.  The  instant  rapturous 
recognition  will  be  mutual  and  spontaneous :  Rabboni ! 
Mary  ! 


LECTURE  XIX. 

FINAL  REWARDS  AND  PUNISHMENTS. 

It  is  a  very  striking  infelicity  that  so  many  of  our 
systems  of  theology  end  as  their  last  words  with  "  hell " 
and  "  eternal  punishment,"  as  if  these  were  the  climac- 
teric categories  in  which  the  study  of  the  nature,  pur- 
poses and  works  of  the  Lord  must  find  their  final  and 
characteristic  goal.  Such  an  arrangement  has  little  in- 
fluence upon  the  substance  of  the  doctrine  held,  but  it 
mars  the  symmetry  of  truth,  it  misrepresents  the  real 
facts  of  the  case,  and  it  must  depress  the  enthusiasm  of 
the  believer  and  give  unnecessary  occasion  of  stumbling 
and  of  offence  to  the  unbeliever. 

We  will  therefore  purposely  reverse  the  common 
order,  and  consider,  first,  what  the  Scriptures  teach  us  as 
to  the  future  of  those  who  depart  this  life  finally  im- 
penitent, and  after  that  close  with  a  short  study  of  the 
glimpses  they  aiford  us  into  the  endless  blessedness  of 
the  redeemed. 

I.  It  seems  to  be  very  clear  that  there  are  only  seven 
distinct  views  as  to  the  final  destiny  of  man  which  are 
possible,  one  or  other  of  which,  with  very  slight  modi- 
fication, must  be  held  by  all  who  think  upon  the  subject. 

1.  It  has  been  held  by  many  that  one  end  happens  to 
man  in  common  with  all  other  animals,  that  his  conscious 
intellectual  life  is  inseparable  from  his  body,  and  that 

439 


440       FINAL  REWARDS  AND  PUNISHMENTS. 

when  the  one  falls  to  pieces  and  decays  at  death  the  other 
ceases  absolutely  and  for  ever.  Against  this  materialism 
human  nature  in  all  its  varieties  and  throughout  its  entire 
history  has  protested.  The  false  religions  have  here 
joined  voices  with  Christianity  in  holding  before  all  the 
inhabitants  of  the  earth  the  certainty  of  a  future  life. 

2.  Again,  many  parties  with  whom  the  sense  of  sin 
and  its  ill-desert  is  vague  and  slight  have  flattered  them- 
selves that  the  benevolence  of  God  was  his  only  charac- 
teristic moral  attribute,  and  the  universal  happiness  of 
his  creatures  his  one  chief  end.  These  have  consequently 
held  an  indiscriminate  Universalism,  including  the  im- 
mediate happiness  of  all  men  after  death,  without  refer- 
ence to  distinctions  of  moral  character  or  to  the  redemp- 
tive work  of  Christ. 

This,  of  course,  is  abhorrent  to  an  enlightened  moral 
sense,  and  derogatory  to  the  personal  holiness  and  gov- 
ernmental rectitude  of  God.  All  who  bear,  however 
loosely,  the  Christian  name  must  repudiate  this  view, 
since  it  absolutely  repudiates  Christ  and  the  value  and 
dignity  of  his  mediation. 

3.  Universalists,  who  have  at  the  same  time  endeav- 
ored to  justify  their  claim  to  being  a  Christian  sect,  have 
maintained  that  since  Christ  died  for  all  men,  all  men 
must  be  saved ;  that  this  salvation,  depending  as  it  does 
upon  what  Christ  has  done  and  will  do  in  man's  behalf, 
cannot  be  rendered  of  no  effect  by  what  men  themselves 
may  do  or  experience  on  earth  ;  that  in  some  way  and  at 
some  time,  and  probably  sooner  and  with  far  less  diffi- 
culty than  we  are  apt  to  fear,  Christ  will  draw  the  spirits 
of  all  men  to  himself  and  secure  for  them  the  conditions 
of  perfect  happiness  for  ever. 


FINAL  REWARDS  AND  PUNISHMENTS.        441 

This  view,  although  it  names  the  name  of  Christ,  and 
professes  to  rest  all  its  hopes  upon  his  mediatorial 
achievements,  nevertheless  is  essentially  as  anti-Chris- 
tian as  those  we  have  just  dismissed.  It  puts  a  higher 
estimation  upon  happiness  than  upon  holiness.  It  puts 
mere  benevolence  on  a  higher  rank  among  the  attributes 
of  God  than  purity  and  righteousness.  It  regards  de- 
liverance from  the  mere  punishment  of  sin  as  of  greater 
importance  than  deliverance  from  the  pollution  and  power 
of  sin  itself.  It  is  founded  not  in  the  least  upon  positive 
revelations  of  God's  purposes,  but  is  maintained  upon 
grounds  of  human  sentiment  and  reason  exclusively, 
against  evident  testimony  of  God's  inspired  Word  and 
the  uniform  belief  of  God's  historic  Church. 

4.  In  latter  times  the  view  has  been  entertained  by 
many  that  although  the  Scriptures  plainly  teach  that  all 
who  reject  Christ  and  die  finally  impenitent  shall  be  con- 
demned in  the  judgment  of  the  great  day  and  condignly 
punished,  yet  two  immutable  facts  remain  which  must 
always  afford  a  rational  basis  for  an  eternal  hope  with 
regard  to  all  men :  (1)  They  are  essentially  free  agents, 
and  as  such  possess  an  inalienable  power  of  self-deter- 
mined choice.  As  soon  as  they  cease  to  be  moral  agents 
they  must  cease  to  be  proper  subjects  of  punishment. 
As  long  as  they  continue  to  be  moral  agents  they  con- 
tinue (so  it  is  claimed)  to  possess  the  power  of  repentance 
and  the  will  (at  least)  to  reform.  No  one  can  predict  (it 
is  argued)  that  penal  sufferings  will  be  unending,  because 
no  one  can  be  certain  of  any  sinner,  in  any  state  or  in 
any  world,  that  he  will  not  repent  and  return.  (2)  God 
is  immutably  and  before  all  things  merciful.  All  his 
government,  penalties  as  well  as  blessings,  looks  to  pro- 


442       FINAL  REWARDS  AND  PUNISHMENTS. 

moting  the  excellence  and  happiness  of  all  his  creatures. 
He  has  sought  by  temporal  dispensations  to  bring  men 
to  repentance  in  this  life ;  so  he  will  ceaselessly  continue 
to  seek  to  bring  the  condemned  and  suffering  spirits  of 
lost  men  in  the  world  of  penal  inflictions  to  repentance 
by  means  of  those  more  tremendous  and  more  cogent 
disciplines.  Reason  and  conscience  will  always  be  plead- 
ing with  men  to  repent  and  throw  down  the  weapons  of 
rebellion.  The  sufferings  of  perdition  will  afford  the 
most  powerful  arguments  conceivable  to  induce  men  to 
close  their  ears  to  the  suggestions  of  sinful  passion  and 
to  open  them  obediently  to  the  influence  of  reason  and 
conscience.  And  all  the  while  the  eternal  God  is  eter- 
nally the  God  of  mercy  and  grace,  and  to  the  latest  mo- 
ment yearning  to  receive  the  prodigal  with  open  arms 
upon  the  first  indication  of  his  willingness  to  return. 
Immediate  punishment  after  death  of  all  who  reject  the 
gospel  and  die  unreconciled  to  God,  and  the  ultimate 
restoration  of  all  during  the  future  ages,  are  the  hope  of 
many. 

5.  Others,  who  cannot  admit  that  the  Scriptures  leave 
any  opening  for  the  indulgence  of  this  eternal  hope  in 
behalf  of  all  souls,  nevertheless  maintain,  both  on  the 
ground  of  justice  and  upon  that  of  harmony  with  the 
characteristics  of  God  as  revealed  in  nature  and  in  rev- 
elation, that  hereafter,  at  some  time  between  death  and 
the  final  judgment,  the  gospel  will  be  offered  under 
favorable  conditions  and  with  hopeful  results  to  all  to 
whom  it  was  not  clearly  revealed  and  upon  whom  it  was 
not  urgently  pressed  in  this  life. 

6.  Many  others,  who  cannot  disguise  to  themselves 
the  obviously  anti-scriptural  character  of  this  so-called 


FINAL  REWARDS  AND  PUNISHMENTS.       443 

"eternal  hope,"  admit  that  the  "Word  of  God  plainly 
teaches  that  all  human  probation,  in  every  sense,  ceases 
with  the  close  of  the  present  life ;  that  the  sentence  pro- 
nounced on  the  reprobate  in  the  judgment  of  the  great 
day  is  absolutely  final  and  irreversible;  that  those  upon 
whom  the  sentence  is  pronounced  will  never  be  restored. 
But  they  claim  that  continued  conscious  existence  after 
death  and  after  judgment  is  no  part  of  man's  natural 
inheritance  and  no  part  of  the  sinner's  doom.  They 
hold  that  immortality  is  conditioned  upon  the  personal 
attainment  of  eternal  life,  and  that  it  is  a  gift  which 
Christ  graciously  bestows  only  upon  his  redeemed.  The 
penalty  of  eternal  death,  which  will  certainly  be  inflicted 
upon  all  who  depart  this  life  impenitent,  is  just  the  ceas- 
ing to  be,  the  being  cast  utterly  and  finally  out  of  exist- 
ence, as  the  penalty  exacted  of  the  sinner  by  the  law  of 
God. 

7.  There  remains  room  in  this  series  of  alternative 
hypotheses  only  for  the  catholic  doctrine  of  the  entire 
historical  Church:  (1)  that  the  probation  of  man  in  every 
sense,  under  both  gospel  and  law,  terminates  with  death ; 
(2)  that  the  state  of  the  relations  subsisting  between  any 
man  and  God  at  that  crisis  will  remain  absolutely  irre- 
versible for  ever ;  (3)  that  neither  during  the  intermediate 
state  between  death  and  the  resurrection  nor  after  the 
judgment,  at  any  time  through  the  endless  ages,  will 
any  conditions  of  restoration  be  offered,  or  efficient  grace 
extended ;  (4)  that  all  the  lost  will  continue  conscious 
rebels  and  sufferers  through  absolutely  unending  dura- 
tion. 

II.  It  appears  that  this  classified  statement  of  opinion 
is  absolutely  exhaustive.     Any  possible  opinion  on  the 


444        FINAL  REWARDS  AND  PUNISHMENTS. 

subject  of  man's  future  destiny  must  be  capable  of  being 
brought  in  under  one  or  other  of  these  heads.  Such  a 
position  can  differ  from  the  corresponding  statement  here 
made  only  in  the  details.  Leaving  aside  the  first  three 
views  as  plainly  beyond  the  pale  of  Christianity,  it  seems 
that  the  choice  is  necessarily  confined  to  the  following 
positions :  (1)  Either  universal  restoration  of  all  to  holi- 
ness and  happiness ;  (2)  or  the  offer  of  the  gospel  in  the 
future  world  under  more  favorable  conditions  to  all  those 
who  were  left  to  live  and  die  ignorant  of  it  in  this  world ; 
(3)  or  the  annihilation  of  all  the  finally  impenitent ;  (4) 
or  the  Church  doctrine  of  the  eternal  conscious  misery 
of  all  those  who  depart  this  life  unreconciled  to  God. 
III.  In  preparing  ourselves  for  an  examination  of  the 
testimony  of  the  Word  of  God  on  this  subject,  we  should, 
in  the  first  place,  seek  to  be  profoundly  impressed  with 
its  vital  importance.  Before  any  other  knowledge  attain- 
able by  us  in  the  compass  of  the  universe,  it  is  most 
essential  for  us  to  know  what  our  Creator  and  sovereign 
Lord  intends  to  do  with  us  after  death — whether  deliver- 
ance from  the  sin  and  misery  and  the  fearful  looking-for 
of  judgment  which  afflict  us  in  this  world  is  possible  for 
us,  and  upon  what  conditions.  If  any  preparation  is  to 
be  made  for  the  future,  it  must  be  made  now.  If  there 
await  us  any  future  dangers  which  are  in  any  way  avoid- 
able, the  present  time  affords  us  the  only  possible  oppor- 
tunity of  avoiding  them.  What  we  need  above  all  other 
things  that  God  can  give  us  is  a  clear,  certain  knowledge 
of  the  actual  truth.  It  is  very  natural  for  us  to  shrink 
from  facing  the  truth  boldly  and  to  turn  away  from  the 
evidence  of  coming  danger,  and  to  fix  our  attention  upon 
every  flattering  light  which  appears  to  promise  some  re- 


FINAL  REWARDS  AND  PUNISHMENTS.        445 

lief  from  danger.  If  we  really  wish  to  be  safe,  we  must 
be  honest  with  ourselves.  If  we  really  wish  to  be  hon- 
est with  ourselves,  we  should  suspect  our  natural  tend- 
ency to  shrink  from  the  evidence  which  threatens  dan- 
ger, and  to  resist  it  with  all  our  might. 

More  than  all  this,  we  should  recognize  the  super- 
ficiality and  essential  cruelty  of  that  mock  charity  which 
makes  so  many  professed  theological  reformers  disguise 
from  sinners  or  explain  away  the  real  facts  as  to  the 
attitude  of  the  Word  of  God  on  this  subject,  Even 
if  mistakes  should  be  made  in  the  way  of  render- 
ing the  aspect  of  scriptural  teaching  more  menacing 
than  it  really  is,  while  it  might  give  unnecessary  pain  for 
the  present,  it  could  not  betray  souls  to  unexpected  dan- 
gers hereafter.  But  there  is  no  more  deadly  injury,  no 
more  wanton  cruelty,  which  any  man  can  perpetrate  upon 
a  fellow-creature,  than  that  which  the  theological  re- 
former is  in  danger  of  when,  against  the  apparent  mean- 
ing of  God's  Word,  against  the  unanimous  judgment  of 
Christ's  Church,  he  softens  the  emphasis  of  warning,  and 
assures  the  incorrigible  sinner  that  it  is  not,  after  all,  so 
certain  that  he  must  die  the  second  death  of  eternal  pain 
and  shame. 

IY.  Unquestionably,  every  Christian  who  under- 
stands his  own  heart  will  recognize  the  fact  that  he 
sympathizes  profoundly  with  the  feeling  of  his  brethren 
who  from  a  mistaken  philanthropy  seek  relief  from  the 
plain  teachings  of  Scripture  as  to  the  fearful  doom  of  the 
finally  impenitent.  To  human  view  the  conception  of 
never-ending,  hopeless  sin  and  misery  is  absolutely  over- 
whelming. If  we  could  realize  its  tremendous  meaning 
it  would  paralyze  our  minds  and  hearts.    We  think  and 


446        FINAL  REWARDS  AND  PUNISHMENTS. 

speak  of  it  so  calmly  because  it  is  so  far  off  and  so  vague 
that  it  fails  to  impress  us  as  an  actual  reality.  There  is 
nothing  on  earth  more  outrageously  vulgar  and  profane 
than  the  coarse  and  careless  shouting  out  of  threats  of 
damnation  against  heedless  sinners  by  an  orthodox  ranter. 
When  we  declare  the  terrible  judgments  of  our  Lord 
against  our  fellow-sinners,  of  our  own  flesh  and  blood, 
who  by.  nature  are  no  worse  than  we  are,  we  should  do 
it  tremblingly  and  witli  tears.  We  should  remember 
that  in  all  respects  we  deserve  the  same  fate  ourselves, 
and  that  it  is  only  infinite  undeserved  grace  which  has 
made  us  to  differ.  We  should  seek  to  treat  all  impeni- 
tent sinners  wTith  the  yearning  tenderness  with  which  our 
blessed  Lord  wept  over  Jerusalem,  with  outstretched  arms 
and  heaving  breast :  "  If  thou  hadst  known,  even  thou, 
at  least  in  this  thy  day,  the  things  which  belong  unto 
thy  peace;  but  now  they  are  hid  from  thine  eyes." 

V.  Our  appeal  must  be  made  exclusively  to  the 
Scriptures.  We  accept  these  as  the  infallible  rule  of 
faith  because  they  are  the  very  Word  of  God.  They 
were  designed  to  furnish  us  all  the  information  which  is 
needed  by  us,  and  all  that  God  intends  us  to  have  on  this 
subject. 

We  must  come  to  the  study  of  this  Word  in  a  teachable 
spirit,  with  a  mind  open  to  receive  all  that  it  has  to  con- 
vey to  us,  with  simplicity  aud  godly  sincerity,  without 
prejudice.  What  we  need  above  all  things  to  know  is, 
not  what  we  think  or  what  other  men  think,  ought  to 
be,  but  what  is,  in  fact,  the  real,  plain  meaning  of  God's 
declaration  on  this  subject. 

The  question  is  not  what  can  we,  with  skillful  exegeti- 
cal  management,  get  out  of  the  Bible  on  this  question  by 


FINAL  REWARDS  AND  PUNISHMENTS.        447 

breaking  up  the  text  and  bringing  the  stress  of  our  strong 
wills  to  bear  against  the  natural  sense  of  each  separate 
clause.  The  question  is  not,  What  may  the  several  pas- 
sages possibly  mean  in  the  way  we  wish  ?  but  What,  upon 
the  whole  and  along  the  entire  line  of  Scripture,  did  God 
the  Holy  Ghost  intend  us  to  believe;  what  impression 
did  he  intend  to  make  upon  us  as  to  these  stupendous 
subjects  by  the  language  he  has  chosen,  by  the  general 
method  in  which  he  has  conducted  the  argument? 

1.  Remember  that  it  was  "the  Lamb  of  God,"  the 
tender  and  compassionate  Saviour,  who  gave  himself  to 
die  for  the  sins  of  men,  who  taught  the  most  frequent 
and  the  most  terrible  lessons  upon  this  subject.  He 
addressed  the  common  people  in  common  language,  and 
his  representations,  statements  and  metaphorical  descrip- 
tions were  of  one  consistent  tone  from  the  beginning  to 
the  end  of  his  ministry,  without  the  least  variation  or 
modification  of  view.  They  must  have  understood  him 
in  the  common  meaning  of  terms  as  then  currently  re- 
ceived. Josephus  (Antiq.,  xviii.  ch.  i.  2  ;  Bell.  Jud.,  ii. 
ch.  viii.  14)  says  that  the  Pharisees  of  that  day  taught 
that  the  souls  of  the  wicked  after  death  were  consigned 
to  an  everlasting  imprisonment,  to  be  punished  with 
eternal  vengeance.  Christ,  therefore,  knew  perfectly 
how  his  hearers,  holding  these  opinions,  would  under- 
stand his  frequently-repeated  "  gehenna  of  fire  "  (Matt. 
5  :  22,  29,  30  ;  10  :  28  ;  18:9;  23  :  15,  33 ;  Mark  9  : 
43,  45,  47  ;  Luke  12  :  5). 

2.  As  to  either  the  restoration  or  the  annihilation  of 
those  who  depart  this  life  impenitent,  the  Scriptures 
say  absolutely  nothing.  There  is  no  single  passage  in 
the  whole  New  Testament  which  indicates  or  suggests 


448        FINAL  REWARDS  AND  PUNISHMENTS. 

either  of  these  views  when  frankly  and  reasonably  in- 
terpreted. On  the  contrary,  the  ceaseless,  hopeless,  con- 
scious suffering  of  those  who  die  impenitent,  both  during 
the  intermediate  state  before  the  resurrection  and  in  the 
final  state  after  the  resurrection  and  judgment,  is  asserted 
over  and  over  again  in  every  form,  in  the  most  definite 
language  and  with  the  greatest  emphasis  possible. 

(1)  In  the  first  place,  it  is  explicitly  declared  that  the 
sufferings  of  the  wicked  shall  have  no  end :  Their  fire  is 
not  quenched,  and  shall  never  be  quenched,  and  "  their 
worm  dieth  not "  (Mark  9  :  44-46).  Because  the  fire  is 
unquenchable  (Matt.  3:12):  "  The  smoke  of  their  tor- 
ment ascendeth  up  for  ever  and  ever,  and  they  have  no 
rest  day  nor  night"  (Rev.  14  :  11). 

(2)  In  the  second  place,  the  Word  of  God  explicitly 
affirms  that  this  suffering  shall  last,  shall  endure,  for 
ever :  "  The  children  of  the  kingdom  shall  be  east  into 
outer  darkness ;  there  shall  be  weeping  and  gnashing  of 
teeth"  (Matt.  8  :  12).  Jucle  in  verse  13  says  the  wicked 
"  are  wandering  stars,  to  whom  is  reserved  the  blackness 
of  darkness  for  ever."  And  Peter  (2  Pet.  2 :  17)  says 
of  them,  "  To  whom  the  mist  of  darkness  is  reserved 
for  ever" 

The  fire  (which  is  the  metaphor  expressing  their  tor- 
ment) is  declared  to  be  "  everlasting  "  (Matt.  25  :  41-46  ; 
Mark  9  :  43),  and  the  wicked  are  declared  "to  suffer  the 
vengeance  of  eternal  fire  "  (Jude  7).  It  is  an  "  eternal 
judgment"  which  comes  after  the  resurrection  of  the  dead 
(Heb.  6  :  1,  2).  Those  who  obey  not  the  gospel  "shall  be 
punished  with  everlasting  destruction  from  the  presence 
of  the  Lord,  and  from  the  glory  of  his  power  "  (2  These. 
1:9);  "And  many  of  them  that  sleep  in  the  dust  of  the 


F.INAL  REWARDS  AND  PUNISHMENTS.        449 

earth  shall  awake,  some  to  everlasting  life,  and  some  to 
shame  and  everlasting  contempt"  (Dan.  12:  2). 

It  is  never  said  that  the  "  effects  "  of  this  punishment 
are  everlasting,  which  might  be  true  if  that  punishment 
were  a  condign  annihilation  of  the  sinner  once  for  all. 
The  effects  would  continue  for  ever,  even  although  the 
punishment  itself  was  inflicted  in  one  act.  But,  on  the 
contrary,  the  Scriptures  declare  that  not  the  "effects" 
only  are  everlasting,  but  that  "  the  condemnation,"  "  the 
punishment,"  "  the  contempt,"  "  the  torment,"  "  the 
fire,"  "the  worm,"  "the  chains,"  are  everlasting,  are 
never  to  cease  to  be.  What  is  the  sense  of  "  everlast- 
ing "  "  torment,"  "  chains,"  "  fire,"  "  worm,"  of  "  no 
rest  day  nor  night  for  ever,"  if  the  sinner  himself  has 
ceased  to  be,  or  if  the  sinner  himself  has  in  the  mean 
time  been  restored  to  the  divine  favor? 

This,  we  assert,  is  the  general,  uniform  and  character- 
istic language  of  the  Scriptures  on  this  awful  subject.  It 
is  the  most  intensely  practical  of  all  subjects,  aud  as  far 
removed  from  a  merely  theoretical  and  speculative  inter- 
est as  the  heavens  are  above  the  earth.  This  is  language 
addressed  by  God  to  plain,  practical  people  of  all  classes, 
who  would  only  be  deceived  by  any  subtleties  of  lan- 
guage. It  is  addressed  to  Jewish  hearers  and  readers, 
who,  God  knew,  understood  this  very  same  language  in 
their  ancient  Hebrew  Scriptures  to  mean  definitely  and 
surely  this  awful  doctrine  of  endless  conscious  suffer- 
ing, and  this  only. 

Now,  we  charge  you  that  God  is  always  true  and 
frank.  He  speaks,  not  to  frighten,  but  in  order  to  be 
understood.  And  he  means  what  he  says — just  what  he 
says.     Is  it  not  infinite  blasphemy  for  man  to  dare  to 

29 


450        FINAL  REWARDS  AND  PUNISHMENTS. 

modify  his  words  on  such  a  subject?  Is  it  not  the  ut- 
most reach  of  human  folly  to  attempt  to  erect  flimsy 
gauze  barriers  to  shut  out  the  approach  of  the  intolerable 
fires  he  declares  it  to  be  his  purpose  to  pour  out  ?  Is  it 
not  the  last  refinement  of  cruelty  to  administer  to  be- 
wildered sinners  moral  anaesthetics,  assuring  them  of  an 
"  eternal  hope,"  only  that  they  may  meet  "  the  vengeance 
of  God's  eternal  fire  "  with  drugged  consciences  ? 

3.  As  to  the  supposition  that  to  those  to  whom  the 
gospel  has  not  been  plainly  offered  in  this  life  it  must  in 
justice  be  offered  hereafter,  there  are  two  things  to  be 
said,  very  plain  and  very  certain : 

(1.)  And  first,  this  supposition,  even  if  it  should  turn 
out  to  be  true,  would  bring  no  relief  to  us  who  have  had 
the  gospel  offered  to  us  in  this  world.  It  would  still  re- 
main true,  what  God  so  terribly  affirms,  that  "  if  we  sin 
willfully  after  that  we  have  received  the  knowledge  of 
the  truth,  there  remaineth  no  more  sacrifice  for  sins,  but 
a  certain  fearful  looking-for  of  judgment  and  fiery  in- 
dignation, which  shall  devour  the  adversaries"  (Heb. 
10 :  26,  27.) 

(2.)  The  second  thing  to  be  said  is  that  the  Scriptures 
from  beginning  to  end  do  not  afford  any  ground  for  this 
"  supposition."  We  are  told  to  believe  in  Christ  now  or 
we  shall  be  damned.  We  are  told  to  take  our  lives  in 
our  hands  and  make  every  sacrifice  to  preach  the  gospel 
to  every  creature  in  this  life,  in  order  that  he  may  be 
saved.  Christ  promises  to  bless  the  preaching  of  the 
gospel  in  this  world  unto  the  end  of  the  present  age. 
But  there  is  not  the  slightest  suggestion  that  if  men  die 
without  hearing  the  gospel  in  this  life  it  will  be  preached 
to  them  in  the  next. 


FINAL  REWARDS  AND  PUNISHMENTS.       451 

(a)  It  is  not  promised.  (6)  The  presumptions  are  all 
against  it.  The  circumstances  of  the  unregenerate  in  the 
next  world  are  all  unfavorable.  The  world  into  which 
they  pass  immediately  after  death  is  everywhere  and  uni- 
formly described  in  Scripture  as  a  place  of  awards,  and 
not  of  probation,  and  as  the  scene  of  sufferings  absolutely 
endless,  (c)  The  Bible  always  speaks  of  death  as  clos- 
ing probation  :  "Now  is  the  accepted  time ;  now  is  the  day 
of  salvation  ;"  "After  death  comes  the  judgment ;"  "  For 
as  many  as  have  sinned  without  law,  shall  also  per- 
ish without  law"  (Rom.  2:12).  Remember  that  the 
term  "  law "  with  Paul  included  the  sum  of  all  God's 
revelations  to  men,  the  "  gospel "  as  well  as  the  moral 
law.  The  matter  of  the  judgment  is  to  be  "  the  deeds 
done  in  the  body."  The  question,  as  Christ  puts  it,  is 
the  treatment  we  extended  to  him  in  the  persons  of  his 
disciples  in  this  life,  (d)  Christ  owes  the  unevangelized 
nothing,  absolutely  nothing.  Salvation  is  of  grace.  The 
gift  of  Christ  to  expiate  the  sins  of  men  was  wholly  and 
simply  gratuitous.  If  God  owed  salvation,  then  expia- 
tion was  a  farce.  If  God  owed  salvation,  then  it  was  the 
height  of  false  pretences  for  him  to  pretend  that  "  he  so 
loved  the  world  that  he  gave  his  only-begotten  Son."  If 
he  did  not  owe  it  to  all,  he  did  not  owe  it  to  any.  He 
was  then  absolutely  free  to  grant  it  to  none,  or  to  all,  or 
to  feio,  or  to  many,  as  he  pleases,  "  according  to  the  good 
pleasure  of  his  will." 

Considering  what  we  are  and  what  Christ  is,  and  what 
he,  out  of  his  infinite  love,  has  done  for  us,  it  is  the  last 
and  meanest  insult  that  either  man  or  devil  can  give,  to 
cast  in  his  face  that  his  amazing  self-sacrifice  was  the 
payment  of  a  debt — that  he  ought  to  have  made  it — thai 


452        FINAL  REWARDS  AND  PUNISHMENTS. 

we  had  a  right  to  expect  it  for  ourselves,  and  have  a 
right  to  expect,  independent  of  all  promise  on  his  part, 
that  he  will  send  the  knowledge  of  it  to  others,  either 
in  this  life  or  in  that  which  is  to  come. 

4.  The  Greek  words  and  phrases  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment (aion,  aionios,  eis  ton  aiona,  eis  tous  aionas,  etc.) 
translated  "  eternal,"  "  everlasting,"  "  for  ever  and  ever," 
and  applied  to  the  never-ending  sufferings  of  the  lost, 
mean  in  the  usage  of  the  Greek  language  precisely  what 
their  English  equivalents  mean  in  the  usage  of  the  Eng- 
lish language.  The  attempt  of  a  class  of  Bible-inter- 
preters to  establish  a  new  sense  to  the  term  "  eternal "  or 
"  aionion"  shows  how  far  scholarly  men,  otherwise  hon- 
est, may  be  warped  by  a  determined  bias  of  desire  in 
representing  the  plainest  and  most  certain  and  univer- 
sally-known matters  of  fact.  They  maintain  that  these 
terms,  as  used  in  the  Bible,  do  not  express  measures  of 
duration,  but  express  only  the  quality  of  the  things  of 
which  they  are  predicated. 

It  is  a  simple  matter  that  endless  duration  should  also 
carry  with  it,  because  endless,  an  added  idea  of  quality. 
If  a  man  believes  in  Christ,  he  has  "eternal  life"  al- 
ready abiding  in  him.  This  life  is  not  without  either 
beginning  or  end  in  us,  but  it  is  without  beginning  or 
end  in  God  :  it  is  self-originating,  self-existent  and  inex- 
haustible and  endless  in  God,  from  whom  we  receive  it, 
and  therefore  it  is  called  eternal.  And  in  us  also  it  will 
prove  inexhaustible  and  endless. 

It  is  simply  absurd  to  deny  that  these  terms  originally, 
naturally  and  always  mark  duration,  and  duration  cor- 
responding to  the  nature  of  the  object  of  which  they  are 
predicated.     Applied  to  God,  they  express  his  infinite 


FINAL  REWARDS  AND  PUNISHMENTS.        453 

duration  as  the  metaphysical  eternity,  without  beginning, 
end  or  succession.  Applied  to  the  soul  of  man  and  his 
future  experiences,  they  express  the  strictly  everlasting, 
that  which  has  beginning,  but  no  end.  Applied  to  the 
"  everlasting  mountains  "  (Hab.  3  :  6),  they  express  the 
duration  of  mountains. 

They  are  the  very  words  used  in  the  New  Testament 
to  express  the  eternal  duration  of  God  (Rom.  1  :  20 ; 
1  Tim.  1:17;  Rom.  16  :  26 ;  Heb.  9  :  14),  and  the  end- 
less reign  of  Christ  (Rev.  1  :  18),  and  the  unending 
duration  of  the  happiness  of  the  redeemed  (Matt. 
19:29;  25:46;  Mark  10:30;  John  3:15;  6:57, 
58 ;  Rom.  2  :  7 ;  2  Cor.  9  :  9),  as  well  as  the  unending 
duration  of  the  miseries  of  the  lost. 

They  always  express  the  idea  of  "  unending  continu- 
ance." The  existence  of  God,  the  glory  of  God,  the 
reign  of  Christ,  the  blessedness  of  the  saints  (Gal. 
1:5;    Eph.  3  :  21 ;    Rev.   1  :  18  ;  4  :  9  ;  10  :  6  ;   15  :  7  ; 

22  : 5),  all  continue  for  ever.  So,  of  course,  will  the 
suffering  of  the  impenitent  continue  for  ever  (Rev. 
14  :  11 ;  19:3;  20  :  10).  These  terms  are  used  to  ex- 
press a  state  of  things  opposed  to  this  present  life  as  one 
that  passes  away,  that  ceases  to  be  (Luke  18  :  30),  and 
they  are  used  as  synonymous  with  apthartos,  incorrupt- 
ible, immortal,  that  which  never  ceases  to  be  (Rom.  1  : 

23  ;  1  Tim.  1  :  17  ;  1  Cor.  9  :  25  ;  1  Pet,  1  :  4),  and 
with  akatalutos,  indissoluble,  and  hence  endless,  endur- 
ing for  ever  (Heb.  7  :  16). 

VI.  Human  reason  is  not  qualified  to  judge  of  the 
absolute  justice  or  of  the  governmental  propriety  of 
eternal  suffering  as  the  penalty  of  sin. 

1.  In  comparison  with   God   the  human  intellect  is 


454        FINAL  REWARDS  AND  PUNISHMENTS. 

very   narrow   in   its   range   and   imperfect   in  its  pro- 
cesses. 

2.  In  comparison  with  God  our  point  of  view  is  in- 
finitely inferior.  We  see  from  beneath,  he  sees  from 
above;  we  see  only  in  part,  his  vision  comprehends 
the  whole  sphere,  and  discerns  all  objects  in  their  true 
proportions  and  relations.  He  alone  can  judge  of  the 
real  evil  of  sin  and  of  the  measures  proper  to  its  pun- 
ishment and  restraint. 

3.  We  are  ourselves  the  malefactors.  It  is  self-evi- 
dent that  self-interest,  that  moral  blinduess  and  callous- 
ness, for  ever  render  every  criminal  an  utterly  incompe- 
tent judge  of  the  measure  of  guilt  attaching  to  his  own 
wrong-doing.  All  experience  proves  this  in  criminal 
jurisprudence  and  in  private  life.  If  this  be  true  when 
we  judge  of  the  heinousness  of  our  offences  against  our 
fellow-men,  how  much  more  must  it  vitiate  our  judg- 
ments as  to  the  heinousness  of  our  sins  against  the  in- 
finitely holy  God  ! 

We  are  not  required  to  assent  to  the  abstract  meta- 
physical dictum  that  every  sin,  being  committed  against 
an  infinite  God,  is  essentially  an  infinite  evil  and  intrin- 
sically deserves  an  infinite  penalty.  It  is  perfectly  suf- 
ficient, in  order  to  establish  the  abundant  justice  of 
eternal  suffering,  for  us  to  recognize  the  common-sense 
principle  that  never-ending  sin  richly  deserves  never- 
ending  punishment.  Every  sin  continues  as  long  as  it 
is  unrepented  of.  And  every  sin  continues  unless  the 
wrong-doer  not  only  repents,  but  also  reforms.  But 
sinners  in  hell  never  repent  nor  reform.  Even  if  a  sin- 
ner, by  a  miracle,  did  repent  and  reform,  it  would  still 
remain  that  his  guilt  would  demand   condign  punish- 


FINAL  REWARDS  AND  PUNISHMENTS.       455 

ment  or  vicarious  expiation.  But  in  that  case,  on  thp 
hypothesis  of  a  sinner's  repenting  and  reforming,  God 
has  never  revealed  to  us  that  the  guilt  of  his  tem- 
poral sin,  now  repented  of  and  reformed,  deserves  or 
would  be  punished  with  unending  suffering.  But  that 
is  a  purely  hypothetical  case,  which  never,  absolutely 
never,  occurs.  Surely  a  Christian  who  has  lifted  his 
eyes  to  the  divine  Victim  upon  the  cross  can  never  feel 
any  difficulty  in  recognizing  the  perfect  justice  of  the 
unending  suffering  of  the  finally  impenitent.  Surely, 
sinners  who  never  repent  nor  reform,  who  continue  in 
a  course  of  never-ending  sin,  deserve,  yes,  demand  im- 
peratively from  justice,  never-ending  punishment. 

The  plea  is  now  frequently  offered  that  the  stern  doc- 
trines of  unending  punishment  are  offensive  to  the  sense 
of  justice  of  an  enlightened  age,  and  are  the  exciting 
causes  of  a  great  deal  of  the  infidelity  now  prevalent. 
This  is  utterly  false  as  a  fact,  and  as  a  plea  is  most  un- 
worthy and  degrading  in  spirit.  Infidelity  has  its  source 
not  in  the  injustice  of  God,  but  in  the  rebellious  will 
and  impenitent  blindness  of  men.  Men  doubt  about 
eternal  punishment  because  they  are  blind  to  the  in- 
finite evil  of  sin ;  and  they  are  bliud  to  the  infinite  evil 
of  sin  because  they  have  inadequate  and  unworthy 
views  of  the  absolute  holiness  of  God.  In  an  age  of 
general  peace  and  epicurean  luxury,  when,  in  the  whole 
sphere  of  human  thought,  the  supernatural  has  been 
overcast  and  hidden  by  the  natural,  God  appears  to  us 
"altogether  such  an  one  as  ourselves."  We  conceive 
of  him  as  confederate  with  us  in  our  pleasures  and  as 
connivent  with  us  in  our  sins. 

What  is  needed  to  break  down  rebellion  is  not  the 


456        FINAL  REWARDS  AND  PUNISHMENTS. 

lowering  of  the  claims  of  the  government.  "What  we 
need  to  render  infidelity  impossible  is  surely  not  a  fur- 
ther obscuration  of  the  awful  majesty  and  holiness  of 
God.  What  we  need  to  render  moral  evil  infamous  is 
surely  not  the  lowering  the  standard  either  of  the  law's 
demands  or  its  penalties.  There  will  be  no  infidelity 
in  hell,  nor  before  its  opened  mouth  in  judgment.  And 
there  will  be  far  less  infidelity  when  all  who  speak  for 
God  in  the  pulpit  or  in  the  press  cease  from  human 
sentiment  or  speculation,  and  conform  their  utterances, 
both  in  matter  and  form,  to  the  frank,  explicit,  majestic, 
though  terrible,  utterances  of  God's  Word. 

VII.  We  have  in  support  of  this  doctrine  also  the 
true  and  genuine  witness  of  the  "  Christian  conscious- 
ness." The  organ  of  this  "  Christian  consciousness " 
cannot  be  any  particular  age  of  the  Church  nor  any 
self-appointed  school  of  Christian  thinkers,  no  matter 
how  cultured  or  self-conscious  of  their  own  superiority. 
The  presumption  is  ten  thousand  to  one  that  the  Bible 
does  teach  that  God  wills  the  finally  impenitent  to  suf- 
fer endlessly.  The  Old  Testament  was  in  the  hands  of 
the  Jews  centuries  before  Christ  came.  They  uniformly 
understood  these  Scriptures  as  teaching  that  the  wicked 
are  to  suffer  for  ever  (Josephus,  Wars,  ii.,  eh.  viii.  14; 
Antiq.,  xviii.,  ch.  i.  2 ;  Philo  Judseus,  i.  p.  65  and  p. 
1391).  The  New  Testament  has  been  in  the  hands  of 
Christians  for  eighteen  hundred  years.  All  the  great 
Church  fathers,  Reformers  and  historical  churches,  with 
their  recensions  and  translations  of  the  sacred  Scriptures, 
their  liturgies  and  hymns ;  all  the  great  evangelical  theo- 
logians and  biblical  scholars,  with  their  grammars,  dic- 
tionaries, commentaries  and  classical  systems, — have  uni- 


FINAL  REWARDS  AND  PUNISHMENTS.        457 

fornily  agreed  in  their  understanding  of  the  teaching  of 
the  sacred  Scriptures  as  to  the  endlessness  of  the  future 
sufferings  of  all  who  die  impenitent.  And  this  has  come 
to  pass  against  the  universal  and  impetuous  current  of 
human  fears  and  sympathies. 

The  only  exception  to  this  unanimous  judgment  of  the 
Christian  Church  of  all  ages  consists  of  relatively  a  few 
men,  who,  hating  this  doctrine,  have  beforehand  deter- 
mined that  the  Bible  cannot  teach  it,  and  so  afterward 
easily  persuade  themselves  that  it  does  not. 

VIII.  Heaven  ! 

Of  heaven,  the  fiual  home  of  Christ  and  his  people 
and  of  the  eternal  rewards  of  well-doing,  we  are  told 
far  more  in  the  Scriptures  than  we  are  told  of  the  final 
punishment  of  the  wicked.  The  facts  are  no  surer,  but 
the  details  are  much  clearer.  And  yet  we  do  not  need 
to  say  much  on  the  subject.  There  is  prevalent  no  preju- 
dice against  the  doctrine  of  heaven,  as  there  is  in  this 
day  against  that  of  hell — no  array  of  objections  to  the 
Church  doctrine  to  be  refuted.  It  is  sufficient  for  Chris- 
tians that,  with  the  Bible  in  their  hands,  they  set  their 
affections  on  things  above,  and  seek,  through  grace  and 
the  diligent  observance  of  all  means  and  duties,  to  grow 
constantly  in  meetness  for  the  inheritance  of  the  saints 
in  light. 

The  main  points  embraced  within  our  present  knowl- 
edge can  easily  be  stated. 

1.  Heaven,  as  a  place,  is  where  Christ,  the  God- man, 
is.  Heaven,  as  a  state,  is  one  of  intimate  knowledge  of 
him  and  of  the  whole  Godhead  in  him,  and  of  fellow- 
ship with  him.  Although  we  shall  be  perfectly  holy  and 
confirmed  in  orace.  so  that  we  shall  never  more  be  liable 


458        FINAL  REWARDS  AND  PUNISHMENTS. 

to  sin,  nevertheless  the  atoning,  sin-expiating  blood  of 
Christ  will  for  ever  be  the  only  foundation  of  our  claim 
and  our  only  plea  for  life  or  blessedness.  It  will  always 
be  our  "  purchased  possession."  As  Christ  is  inexhaust- 
ible, so  heaven  is  inexhaustible.  There  is  room  and  verge 
for  every  capacity,  for  every  idiosyncrasy,  and  indefinite 
progress  in  all  directions  through  the  eternal  ages. 

2.  Heaven,  as  the  supreme  centre  of  divine  revelations 
and  communications  through  Christ,  must  pre-eminently 
bear  the  characteristics  of  God.  It  will  be  absolutely 
pure,  majestic,  holy,  noble  in  all  its  elements  and  charac- 
teristics. Everything  that  is  impure  and  that  defileth  will 
be  excluded.  Its  inhabitants  will  all  be  arrayed  in  linen 
fine  and  white  which  has  been  washed  and  made  white 
in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb.  Everything,  therefore,  that 
encompasses  our  life  on  earth,  which  is  narrow,  dark, 
selfish,  petty,  ungenerous,  untrue,  unclean,  must  be  faith- 
fully cut  away  at  every  cost.  There  can  absolutely  be 
no  compromise  between  light  and  darkness — between 
the  candidate  for  heaven  and  the  spirit  and  fashion  of 
this  world. 

3.  Heaven,  as  the  eternal  home  of  the  divine  Man  and 
of  all  the  redeemed  members  of  the  human  race,  must 
necessarily  be  thoroughly  human  in  its  structure,  con- 
ditions and  activities.  Its  joys  and  its  occupations  must 
all  be  ratioual,  moral,  emotional,  voluntary  and  active. 
There  must  be  the  exercise  of  all  faculties,  the  grati- 
fication of  all  tastes,  the  development  of  all  latent 
capacities,  the  realization  of  all  ideals.  The  reason, 
the  intellectual  curiosity,  the  imagination,  the  aesthetic 
instincts,  the  holy  affections,  the  social  affinities,  the  in- 
exhaustible resources  of  strength  and  power  native  to  the 


FINAL  REWARDS  AND  PUNISHMENTS.       459 

human  soul,  must  all  find  in  heaven  exercise  and  satis- 
faction. Then  there  must  always  be  a  goal  of  endeavor 
before  us,  ever  future.  It  will  never  be  said  there  that 
we  have  already  attained  or  have  already  finished,  but, 
forgetting  the  things  which  are  behind,  and  reaching 
forth  unto  the  things  which  are  before,  we  will  press 
toward  the  ever-advancing  mark  for  the  prize  of  the 
high  calling  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus.  Ever  upward 
and  onward  the  pathway  of  the  redeemed  and  glorified 
will  always  be,  with  Christ  Godward. 

4.  The  constitution  of  heaven  will  be  related  not  only 
to  human  nature,  redeemed  and  glorified,  but  also  to  an- 
gelic nature  in  all  its  grades  and  orders.  Christ  and  the 
commonwealth  of  his  redeemed  kindred  after  the  flesh 
will  be  central.  But  with  us  all  holy  intelligences  in  all 
their  infinite  varieties  of  rank  and  gifts  and  functions  will 
be  comprehended.  Heaven  will  prove  the  consummate 
flower  and  fruit  of  the  whole  creation  and  of  all  the  his- 
tory of  the  universe.  Every  sun  and  all  the  stars  will 
seud  tribute.  All  nations  and  generations  of  mankind, 
all  varieties  of  rational  spirits,  all  angels  and  archangels, 
all  cherubim  and  seraphim,  will  send  representatives. 
For  this  is  the  mystery  of  God's  will  according  to  his 
good  pleasure,  which  he  has  purposed  in  himself,  that 
in  the  dispensation  of  the  fullness  of  times  he  might 
gather  together,  under  one  Head,  all  things  in  Christ, 
both  which  are  in  heaven  and  which  are  on  earth,  even 
in  him  (Eph.  1 :  9,  10). 

5.  Although  heaven  can  only  be  entered  by  the  holy, 
yet  such,  we  are  assured,  is  the  infinite  provision  made 
for  human  salvation,  and  such  the  intense  love  for  hu- 
man sinners  therein  exhibited,  that  the  multitude  of  the 


460        FINAL  REWARDS  AND  PUNISHMENTS. 

redeemed  will  be  incomparably  greater  than  the  number 
of  the  lost.  My  father,  at  the  close  of  his  long  life  spent 
in  the  defence  of  Calvinism,  wrote  on  one  of  his  confer- 
ence papers,  in  trembling  characters,  a  little  while  before 
he  died,  "I  am  fully  persuaded  that  the  vast  majority  of 
the  human  race  will  share  in  the  beatitudes  and  glories 
of  our  Lord's  redemption."  Remember  that  all  who  die 
before  complete  moral  agency  have  been  given  to  Christ. 
Remember  that  the  vast  populations  of  the  coming  mil- 
lenniums are  given  to  Christ.  Then  shall  the  promises 
of  Christ  to  the  great  Father  of  the  faithful  be  fulfilled 
to  the  letter :  "  Thy  seed  shall  be  like  the  sands  of  the 
sea-shore ;"  "  Thy  seed  shall  be  like  the  stars  of  heaven 
for  multitude,"  and  recollect  that  when  God  made  this 
promise,  while  Abraham  saw  only  with  the  naked  eye, 
God  took  in  far  more  than  even  the  telescopic  heavens 
in  magnitude. 

6.  While  heaven  is  thus  infinitely  comprehensive,  and 
all  the  more  blessed  because  it  is  so,  yet  each  individual, 
however  humble  and  useless,  will  have  his  special  indi- 
vidual place  prepared  expressly  for  himself.  Every 
glorified  body  will  be  articulated  to  the  idiosyncrasies 
of  each  individual  soul.  Every  glorified  person  will 
be  exactly  adjusted  to  his  personal  friends,  associations, 
relations  and  personal  work.  Paul  said  of  Christ  in  his 
personal  relation  to  himself,  "  Who  loved  me,  and  gave 
himself  for  me."  We  will  never,  not  the  least  one  of  us, 
be  lost  in  the  crowd.  Our  infinite-sided  Saviour  will 
have  his  special  recognition,  his  special  communion  and 
his  special  tokens  of  love  for  each  of  us.  We  will  all 
be  exalted  by  being  parts  of  an  infinite  whole.  But 
we  will  none  of  us  be  lost  in  the  mass.     Each  will  re- 


FINAL  REWARDS  AND  PUNISHMENTS.        461 

tain  his  personal  value,  and  in  Christ  his  private  life. 
"  To  him  that  overconieth  will  I  give  a  white  stone,  and 
in  the  stone  a  new  name  written,  which  no  man  knoweth 
saving  he  that  receiveth  it"  (Rev.  2:  17). 

And  now,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  let  me  congratulate 
you.  You  have  exercised  great  patience  of  faith  in  hold- 
ing out  through  these  trying  Lectures  to  the  end.  The 
end  is  now  come  when  you,  having  finished  the  course, 
may  rest  from  your  labors.  We  shall  not  meet  together 
here  any  more.  Let  us  pledge  one  another,  as  we  part, 
to  reassemble  in  heaven.  We  are  now  parting  from  one 
another,  as  pilgrims  part  upon  the  road.  Let  us  turn 
our  steps  homeward,  for  if  we  do  we  shall  soon — some 
of  us  now  very  soon — "be  at  home  with  the  Lord." 
Adieu !  * 

*  So  ended  the  first  course  of  Lectures  delivered  by  Dr.  Hodge  in 
Philadelphia,  Tuesday,  May  30,  1886.  The  propriety  of  leaving 
this  conclusion  unchanged  is  obvious.  How  sadly  the  words  were 
verified ! 


INDEX. 


A. 

Abbott,  Dr.  Ezra,  78. 

Abrahamic  Church,  209. 

Advocate,  Christ  an,  236. 

Agnosticism,  18,  33. 

Alexandria,  school  of,  226. 

Angel  of  Jehovah  the  second  Per- 
son of  the  Trinity,  263. 

Angels,  probation  of,  196. 

Annihilation,  443,  447. 

Anthropology,  164  sqq. 

Antinomianism,  355  sq. 

Antioch,  school  of,  226. 

Apollinaris,  225. 

Apostolic  succession,  206,  302  sq. 

Arians,  224. 

Arminianism,  144,  149,  158,  160 
sqq.,  356. 

Assurance  of  faith,  350  sqq. 

Athanasius,  225. 

Atonement,  the  day  of,  246. 

Augustine,  St.,  189. 

Augustinianism,  27,  49,  162. 


Baptism,  368. 

form  of,  369  sqq. 

of  infants,  379  sqq. 

qualifications  for,  376  sqq. 

subjects  of,  375  sqq. 

use  of  infant,  387. 
Bible.     See  Scriptures. 


Body,  the  resurrection,  434  sqq. 

definition  of,  434. 
Breath  of  life,  167,  169. 

O. 

Calvinism,  27,  142,  149,  158,  160 

sqq.,  356. 
Canon  of  Scripture,  68. 

how  ascertained,  71  sq.,  75  sq. 
Catholic  church,  the  holy,  300  sq. 
Cause,  second,  22,  43,  58,  95  sqq., 
156  sq. 
and  effect,  necessary  and  edu- 
cational, 95  sq. 
Chalcedon,  Council  of,  226. 
Chance,  50,  159. 
Character    and    personal   choice, 

195  sq. 
Charismata,  112. 
Cherubim  symbols  of  the  glorified 

body,  437. 
Chemnitz,  228. 

Christ,  the  two  natures  of,  125,  220 
sqq. 
Christianity  centres  in  the  Per- 
son of,  215  sq. 
the  Person  of,  215-233. 
the  offices  of,  234-258. 
a  Mediator,  236. 
Advocate  and  Paraclete,  237  sq, 
a  Prophet,  238-242. 
a  Priest,  242-258. 

463 


464 


INDEX. 


Christ,  a  King,  259-287- 

his  kingdom  of  power,  267  sq. 
"        "  "   grace,  269. 

"         "  "    glory,  272. 

the  only  Head  of  the  Church, 

271. 
the  allegiance  due  to,  284. 
Christian  consciousness,  77,  456. 
Christo-centric,  estimate  of,  10. 
Chronology,  178  sq. 
Church,  what  is  the,  204-214,  298 
sqq. 
the  visible  and  the  invisible, 

204  sq.,  301. 
marks  of  the,  206. 
of  Rome,  206. 
organization,   an   accident    of 

the,  207  sq.,  302. 
began  in  the  family,  208. 
composition  of  the,  chronolog- 
ically, 209  sq. 
unity  of  the,  211  sqq.,  299  sqq., 

306  sqq. 
and  State,  272  sq. 
Circumcision  and  baptism,  382. 
City  of  God,  289,  310  sqq. 
Communion,  390-414  sq. 
Communicants,  relation  of,  to  pop- 
ulation of  U.  S.,  279. 
Concupiscence,   Romish   doctrine 

of,  338. 
Confirmation,  rite  of,  388  sqq. 
Consciousness,  the   Christian,  77, 
456. 
reveals  God,  13  sqq. 
Constantinople,  Council  of,  227. 
Copernican  system,  an  illustration, 

10. 
Council  of  Chalcedon,  226. 
Ephesus,  226. 
Laodicea,  225. 


Council  of  Nice,  224. 
Covenant,   fitness   and  history  of 
the  term,  193. 
nature  of  a,  194. 
of  works,  195-199. 
of  grace,  195,  199  sqq. 
of  redemption,  199  sq. 

and  Christ,  201. 
Covenants  of  God  with  man,  191- 

214. 
Creation,  36,  56,  166  sq. 
of  man,  165  sqq. 
providence  and  redemption,  50. 
Scripture  doctrine  of,  and  the 
plan  of  salvation,  171. 
Crises  of  history,  332. 

D. 

Death,  state  after,  418  sq. 
believers  at,  421. 
probation  ends  at,  420,  443. 
Deism,  18,  20,  22,  33,  128  sq. 
Destiny   of  man,   seven   possible 
views  of  the,  439  sqq. 
of  the  wicked,  440  sq. 
solemnity  of  this  subject,  444 

sq. 
false  sentiment  about  the,  445 
sq. 
Discrepancies  in   the  Scriptures, 

92  sq. 
Dispensation  preferred  to  the  term 

covenant,  202. 
Dispersion   of  races  reversed   by 
the  kingdom  of  Christ,  331. 
Docetse,  224. 
Dominion  over  the  creature,  183. 

B. 
Education  and  religion,  279  sqq. 
Edwards,  Jonathan,  159. 


INDEX. 


465 


Election,  146,  148  sq. 
Ephesus,  Council  of,  226. 
Esehatology,  164,  418. 
Eternal  hope,  the,  441  sqq.,  450. 
Eucharist,  393. 
Eutychianism,  224,  226  sq. 
Everlasting  punishment,  447  sqq, 
origin  of  skepticism  about,  455. 
Evolution,  49,  171  sqq. 


Faith  and  prayer,  108. 

the  source  of,  150. 

-cure,  108  sq. 

and  miracles,  111. 

and  assurance,  350  sq. 
Fatalism,  160. 

Foreknowledge  of  God  and  elec- 
tion, 152. 
Foreordination,  147,  156. 
Fourfold  state  of  man,  188. 
Freedom  of  man  and  predestina- 
tion, 151  sqq.,  158. 
Free-will,  183  sqq. 

and  responsibility,  188. 
Friends,  the,  336. 

G. 

Genesis,  172. 

God,  his  nature  and  relation  to  the 
universe,  9-32. 
agnostic  view  of,  18,  33. 
the  Abyss,  18,  32,  131. 
definition  of,  impossible,  13. 
the  deist's  view  of,  18,  33. 
the  efficiency  of,  in   the  uni- 
verse, 25  sq. 
eternal  and  omnipresent,  15. 
extramundane,  20,  29  sq.,  33  sq. 
the  Father,  121,  130,  133. 
the  First  Cause,  14,  22,  29. 
30 


God,  the  government  of,  48  sqq. 

holiness  and  justice  of,  16. 

immanence  of,  20  sq.,  24-29. 

intelligent  and  has  a  plan,  191. 

is  there  a?  11. 

our  idea  of,  defined,  13,  29. 

and  the  laws  of  nature,  96  sqq. 

moral  and  religious  view  of,  20. 

only  one,  121. 

the  pantheist's  view  of,  20,  33. 

a  person,  12. 

a  personal  Spirit,  13  sqq.,  34. 

has  other  perfections    besides 
benevolence,  16  sq. 

the  perfections   of,    expressed 
in  providence,  41. 

his  preservation  of  his  creat- 
ures, 47. 

the   plan   and  purpose  of,  48, 
191. 

the  providence  of,  33. 

the  relation  of,  to  the  universe, 
17  sq. 

how  revealed,  11,  41. 

revealed  in  three  Persons,  117- 
139. 

the  Son,  124  sq.,  133  sq.,  135. 

and  sinful  actions,  27. 

the  transcendence  of,  19  sq. 

the  Unitarian  God  playing  sol- 
itaire, 127. 

the  universe  reveals,  25  sq. 

is  unknowable,  18  sq. 

what  is?  11  sqq. 
Good  works,  335-360. 
Grace,  prevenient,  27. 
Green,  Prof.  W.  H.,  177. 
Guyot,  Prof.,  177,  179  sq. 

H. 
Hades,  426  sqq. 


466 


INDEX. 


Head  of  the  Church,  Christ  the 

only,  271. 
Heaven,  457-461. 

a  place,  457  sq. 

place  of,  undetermined,  422. 

dying  infants  go  to,  305,  460. 

meaning  of,  428. 

and  Old  Testament   saints   at 
death,  428. 
Hell,  place  of,  undetermined,  422. 

Christ's  descent  into,  424,  430. 

meaning  of,  427  sq. 
Heresy,  222  sqq. 

partial  truth,  17. 
Higher  criticism,  74. 
Higher  life,  356  sqq. 
High-Churchism,  207,  213. 
Hodge,  Dr.  Charles,  90,  460. 
Holiness  of  God  and  predestina- 
tion, 154. 
Holy  catholic  Church,  299  sqq. 
Holy  Ghost,  126,  134  sqq.,  237, 

240,  296,  351  sq. 
Hume,  David,  62. 
Huxley,  174. 


Identity  of  the  resurrection  body, 

433. 
Illumination,  spiritual,  85. 
Illustrations : 

Alps  seen  from  the  railroad,  9. 
The    Copernican    system,   10, 

155. 
The  increasing   boundary   of 

darkness,  18. 
How  a  botanist  comprehends  a 

flower,  19. 
Vital  principle  in  plants  illus- 
trates   the    divine    imma- 
nence, 22  sq. 


Illustrations: 

St.  Peter's  at  Rome  as  a  creation, 
and  Michael  Angelo  the  di- 
recting genius,  24. 

Bodily  changes  expressions  of 
the  spirit,  and  God  reveal- 
ed in  changes  of  the  uni- 
verse, 25. 

The  musician  the  cause  of  the 
sound,  but  not  of  the  discord 
of  the  instrument  out  of 
tune,  or  God's  relation  to 
sinful  acts,  27. 

Dr.  Witherspoon  and  special 
providences,  39. 

The  musician  articulating  air, 
and  God  articulating  nature, 
45. 

Charleston  earthquake  and 
providence,  46  sq. 

The  missionary  in  Siam,  mak- 
ing ice  before  the  court,  did 
no  miracle,  53. 

Miracles  related  to  natural  law, 
as  man's  agency  in  the  elec- 
tric telegraph,  60. 

Bible  an  organic  whole  like  a 
cathedral,  83. 

Inspiration  analogous  to  the 
man  at  the  helm,  87. 

The  sculptor  and  statue,  and 
the  vital  principle  of  a  tree, 
105  sq. 

Parable  of  light,  131-139. 

View  of  a  battlefield  from  the 
strategic  centre,  154. 

Looking  eastward  in  the  morn- 
ing and  in  the  evening,  the 
difference.  155. 

A  chronometer  illustrates  fore- 
ordination,  156. 


INDEX, 


467 


Illustrations : 

Picture  perspective,  and  chro- 
nology in  history,  178. 

Adam  created  mature  illustra- 
ted by  Dr.  Plumer's  account 
of  a  strange  case,  181. 

A  grist-mill  without  grist,  182. 

Free-will  illustrated,  183,  185 
sq. 

Logic  like  a  ladder,  184. 

Fiddle  out  of  tune,  and  origin 
of  sin,  189. 

Constitution  of  the  U.  S.  with 
changing  administrations, 
and  the  different  admin- 
istrations of  the  covenant 
of  redemption,  203. 

Seeing  the  Church  like  seeing 
the  earth — too  near  the 
planet  to  see  it,  205. 

Unity  of  the  Church  not  like 
drops  of  water  in  the  ocean, 
or  grains  of  sand  that  make 
the  desert,  but  like  the  ca- 
thedral, 212. 

Orchestra  illustrates  Church 
unity,  212. 

Soul  and  body  illustrate 
Christ's  humanity  and  di- 
vinity in  one  Person,  221 
sq.,  232. 

Telescopes  of  highest  power 
have  the  narrowest  field, 
and  simple  minds  the  deep- 
est revelations,  242. 

Sacrifices  like  paper  promises 
to  pay,  247. 

Kingdom  of  Christ  and  king- 
doms of  this  world,  like 
gases,  vacuums  to  one  an- 
other, 272. 


Illustrations: 

The   little  child  unconscious, 

353. 
"I   do   hate  the  early-ripes," 

360. 
Laura  Bridgeman,  illustration 
of  the  glorious  body  of  the 
resurrection,  435. 
Cherubim,     symbols    of    the 
glorious  body  of  the  resur- 
rection, 437. 
Image  of  God,  182. 
Immanence  of  God,  21  sqq. 
Incarnation  of  the  Son,  130,  192, 

230  sq. 
Infants   dying   in   infancy   go  to 

heaven,  305,  460. 
Inspiration,  87  sqq. 

verbal,  89. 
Intermediate  state,  419,  424. 
Irving,  Edward,  113. 

J. 

Jehovah,  the  second  Person  of  the 

Trinity,  263. 
Jewish  Church,  209  sq. 
Justification,  337  sqq. 

Protestant    doctrine    of,    338, 

340. 
Romish  doctrine  of,  338  sq. 
precedes  regeneration,  340. 


Kenosis,  229. 

Keys,  power  of  the,  363,  378. 

King,  Christ  a,  259-287. 

Kingdom,  universality  of  the  me- 
diatorial, 264  sq. 
Christ's,  of  power,  267  sqq. 
"        of  grace,  269  sqq. 


468 


INDEX. 


Kingdom  of  Christ  and  kingdoms 
of  the  world,  271  sq. 

Christ's,  of  glory,  272. 

of  Christ,  288-312. 

three  names  for  the,  2S9. 

of  God,  heaven  and  Christ, 
289  sqq. 

growth  of  the,  296. 

law  of  the,  313-334. 

and  the  United  States,  330  sqq. 


Laodicea,  Council  of,  225. 
Laura  Bridgeman,  435. 
Law,  of  the  kingdom,  313-334. 
and  gospel,  how  mutually  ex- 
clusive, 324. 
channels     for     revealing     the 

divine,  321  sqq. 
use  of,  325  sq.,  348  sqq. 
Laws  of  nature,  44,  46,  59,  96  sq. 

and  prayer,  104  sq. 
Logic  a  ladder,  184. 
Logical  unfolding  of  the  covenant 
from  Moses  to  Christ,  210 sq. 
Lord's  Supper,  228,  390-417. 
names  for  the,  391  sqq. 
genesis  of  the,  393  sqq. 
matter  of  the,  398  sqq. 
bread  and  wine  of  the,  398  sqq. 
sacramental  actions  of  the,  400 

sqq. 
meaning  and   design   of   the, 
402  sqq. 
.  Christ's  presence  in   the,  408 
sqq. 
Lutherans,  144  sq.,  227,  410,  413. 

M. 
Man,  the   original  state  of,  164- 
190. 


Man,    scriptural   account  «f   the 
origin  of,  166  sq. 
made  of  dust,  167. 
the  soul  of,  not  divine  spirit, 

167. 
antiquity  of,  176  sq. 
created  mature,  180  sq. 
made   in   the   image   of  God, 

182. 
his  dominion  over  the  creatures, 

183. 
and  free-will,  183  sqq. 
fourfold  state  of,  188  sq. 
God's  covenants  with,  191-214. 
his  moral  character  and  per- 
sonal choice,  196. 
probation  of,  196  sqq. 
destiny  of,  seven  possible  views 
of  the,  439  sqq. 
Materialism,  439  sq. 
Mediator,  Christ  a,  236. 
Mill,  J.  Stuart,  42,  60,  159. 
Miller,  Hugh,  198. 
Miracle,  52-67. 

what  is  a,  30,  36  sq.,  52  sqq., 

57. 
and  moral  government,  62  sq. 
the  use  of  a,  56,  65,  96. 
not  to  be  common  or  promis- 
cuous, 110. 
not  impossible,  59,  61. 
and  laws  of  nature,  59. 
does  not  betoken  defect,  whim 

or  change  of  plan,  61. 
not  improbable,  62. 
the  miracles  of  faith-cure,  111. 
Morality,  20,  29,  31,  314  sqq. 
Moral  government  and  miracles, 

62  sq. 
Mosaic  Church,  209. 
Mysteries,  117,  189,  361  sqq.,  390. 


INDEX. 


469 


N. 
Nature,  laws  of.     See  Law. 

definition  of,  54. 
Natures,  two,  in  Christ,  222  sq. 
Natural,  what  is?  54  sqq. 

law,  97. 
Necessity,  doctrine  of,  159. 
Neo-nomianism,  355  sq. 
Nestorians,  224. 
"New  Departure,"  the,  27. 
Nice,  Council  of,  224. 


Offices,  of  Christ,  234-258. 

two  meanings  of,  234  sq. 
Order  and  logical  perspective  in 

theology,  9. 
Origen,  226. 
Original  sin,.  144,  198. 
Orthodoxy  always  catholic,  17,  31, 

33,  46,  128  sqq.,  160,  222. 


Pantheism,  20,  28,  31,  33,  46,  129. 
Parable  of  light,  131-139. 
Paraclete,  Christ  a,  236  sq. 
Parker,  Theo.,  61. 
Passover  and  the  Lord's  Supper, 

394  sqq. 
Patriarchal  Church,  209. 
Patriotism,  false,  285. 
Pelagianism,  144,  335. 
Penance,  Romish  doctrine  of,  339. 
Perfectionism,  347  sqq. 
Persons,  in  the  Godhead,  121  sqq., 
126  sqq. 
order  of  the,  in  the  Trinity,  124 
sq.,  219  sq. 
Person  of  Christ,  215-233. 

doctrinal    difficulties    of   the, 
217  sqq. 


Person  of  Christ,  heresies  relating 
to,  222  sqq. 
Lutheran     doctrine     of,     227 

sqq. 
Reformed  doctrine  of,  227  sqq. 
the  lesson  of  all  ages,  240. 
Perspective,  importance  of  logical, 

9. 
Polytheism,  129. 
Power  of  the  keys,  363,  378. 
Prayer,  94-116. 

and  rationalists,  etc.,  98. 
Prayer,   what  is  acceptable?    99 
sqq. 
answer  to,  101  sqq. 
and  foreordination,  103  sqq. 
and  laws  of  nature,  104  sqq. 
experience  testifies  to  the  need 

of,  106. 
for  President  Garfield,  107. 
and  use  of  means,  100,  108. 
Prayer-cure,  107  sqq. 
Predestination,  140-163. 

a  subject  unavoidable  and  im- 
portant, 140  sq. 
Calvin's    way    of   presenting, 

142. 
and  freedom,  151  sqq. 
and  God's  holiness,  154. 
not  antagonized  by  other  truth, 

158. 
opposite  of  fate,  160. 
Presence  defined,  409  sq. 
Priest,  Christ  a,  242-258. 
Priesthood,   the   ministry   not  a, 

256. 
Probation,  196. 

ends  with  death,  420,  443. 
second,  442,  450. 
as  it  was  offered,  the  best  chance, 
197. 


470 


INDEX. 


Profession,  what  is  a  credible,  377. 
Prophet,  Christ  a,  238,  242. 
Providence,  30,  33-51,  56. 

the  execution  of  one  plan,  38. 
universal,  38  sq. 
natural   and  ordinary,  super- 
natural and  gracious,  39. 
special,  40. 

the  expression  of  God's  per- 
fections, 41. 
facts  of  nature  and  history  rec- 
oncilable with,  42. 
to  be  interpreted  by  light  of 

Scripture,  47. 
and  redemption,  50. 
Public  schools  and  religion,  279- 

283. 
Punishment,  everlasting,  447  sqq. 

R. 

Rationalism,  119,  314,  335. 
Rationalists  and  prayer,  98. 
Reason  and  revelation,  119  sq. 
Regeneration,  341  sqq. 

precedes  sanctification,  340. 
Religion,  20,  29,  31. 

and  education,  279  sqq. 

and  science,  31  sq.,  44. 

and  State,  275  sqq. 
Renan,  69. 
Repentance,  339. 

the  first  motion  of,  from  God, 
143. 
Responsibility  and  free-will,  188. 
Resurrection,  431-438. 

of  the  wicked,  432. 

of  saints,  433  sqq. 

of  the  body,  434  sqq. 

identity  of  the  body  in,  433. 
Rewards    and    punishments,   the 
final,  439-461. 


Revelation  by  word  or  book  not 
impossible,  69  sqq. 
and  reason,  119  sq. 
the  nature  of,  86,  322  sq. 

Ritualism  and  Romanism,   chief 
error  of,  257,  410. 

Romanism,    336    sqq.,   356,    408, 
410. 

Rome,  Church  of,  206. 

Rule  of  faith,  68,  323. 


Sacraments,  361-368. 

meaning  of  the  word,  361  sqq. 

called  mysteries,  361  sqq. 

nature  of  the,  363. 

design  of  the,  365  sqq. 

means  of  grace,  366. 

Romish  view  of,  336  sqq. 

of  the  Romish  Church,  367. 

of  perpetual  obligation,  367. 

the  sacrament  of  baptism,  368- 
389. 

the  Lord's  Supper,  390-417. 
Sacramentum,  392,  416. 
Saints  of  the  Old  Testament  at 
death,  423,  428. 

resurrection  of  the,  433. 
Salvation,  essential  parts  of,  238. 
Sanctification    and    good    works, 
335-360. 

and  justification,  337. 

standard  of,  346  sqq. 
Schism,  213;  308  sq. 
Science,  why  men  of,  cannot  see 
traces  of  God,  12,  44. 

and  religion,  31,  32,  44,  46  sq., 
166,  171  sqq.,  176  sq. 
Scriptures,  the,  68-93. 

the  genesis  of  the,  80  sqq. 

a  human  book,  81  sq. 


INDEX. 


471 


Scriptures,  a  divine  book,  82. 
an  organic  whole,  83. 
are  the  Word  of  God,  23,  84, 

88,  92. 
God's  part  in  producing  the, 

84  sq. 
discrepancies  in  the,  92  sq. 
Sealing  ordinances,  363. 
Self-consciousness,  353. 
Semi-Pelagianism,  144,  335. 
Sheol,  426  sq. 
Sickness  not   always  punishment 

of  sin,  109. 
Sin,  effects  of,  321  sq. 
universal  sense  of,  242. 
the  measure  of,  454. 
nature  and  origin  of,  189,  346. 
sickness  not  always  punishment 

of,  109. 
original,  144,  198. 
Sinful  acts  foreordained,  147. 
Smith,  Dr.  H.  B.,  90  sqq. 
Soteriology,  164. 
Soul,  the  living,  167  sq. 

created,  169. 
Sovereignty  of  Christ,  260  sqq. 
Spencer,  Herbert,  18,  159. 
State  and  religion,  275  sqq. 

and  Church,  272  sqq. 
State  after  death,  and  resurrection, 

418-438. 
Supernatural,    the,    31,    46,    54 
sqq. 
and  miracle  not  coextensive, 
53  sq. 
System,  God's  plan  regarded  as  a, 
191,  198  sq. 
of  human  redemption,  192  sq., 

198  sq. 
place  of  humanity  in  God's, 
192. 


Tabernacle,   the    service  of   the, 

244  sq. 
Text  of  Scriptures,  how  ascertain 
the  true,  73  sqq.,  78  sqq. 
one,  not  convincing,  171. 
Theism,  Christian,  18,  20  sqq. 
Theo-centric  view,  10. 

theology  must  be,  10,  155  sq. 
Theology,  order  of  topics  in,  164. 
Transcendental  theology,  141. 
Transubstantiation,  411  sqq. 
Trinity,  the,  117-139,  219  sqq. 
known    only    by     revelation, 

117. 
the  most   reasonable  view  of 

God,  119,  127  sq. 
order  of  Persons  in  the,  124, 

219  sq. 
illustrated  by  a  parable  of  light, 

131-139. 
and  the  doctrine  of  the  Person 
of  Christ  intimately  asso- 
ciated, 218. 
Tyndale   and   a  prayer-test,  106, 
174. 

U. 
Unitarianism,  127  sqq.,  218,  224. 
United  States  a  Christian  nation, 
278. 
proportion  of  church-members 

in,  279. 
and  the  kingdom  of  God,  332 
sqq. 
Universalism,  440  sq. 

V. 

Vital  principle  of  plants  illustrates 
the  divine  immanence,  22 
sq. 


472 


INDEX. 


W. 

Water  the  symbol  of  spiritual  re- 
generation, 370. 

Westminster  Assembly,  193  sq. 

Whately,  Archbishop,  149. 

Wicked,  destiny  of  the,  440  sq. 
solemnity  of  the  subject,  444 
sq. 


Wicked,  false  sentiment  about  the 

destiny  of  the,  445  sq. 
Wine  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  399  sq. 
Woman  created,  170. 
Word,  Christ  the,  239. 


Zwingle,  141. 


THE    END. 


